Devil's Breath
by Sunburnsfromhell
Summary: She was an unfinished piece, not quite perfect, not yet. He could fix that. He could make her perfect, shape her, form her, train her and ultimately keep her. After all, Sasori wasn't one to deny himself beautiful things. He'd never had a student before and maybe it was time. It was -a spur in the moment- decision but it was now or never.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: **

Hello you lovely folks! So here i am with yet another story, this one is going to a long one, just like my others. I don't know for shit, how to write short stories, i'm yearning for someone to come along and direct me on that regard xD Anyways, It's a slow-burn and just a heads up; it will be a dark and gritty tale in some regard, I won't tone the drama down for this one. Any story with Sasori as one of the main caracters, sure as hell won't be a soft one. Critics are welcomed and any suggestions and advice will be greatly needed, as always. So without further ado, happy reading!

**Devil's Breath**

**Chapter 1 **

It had been summer and she specifically remembered how the grass felt beneath her feet. It was a special kind of feeling that washed over her. The feeling of freshness and life. As a way to anchor herself to that moment, she made sure to savour the feeling. Hinata stood there in the summer air, digging her toes into the green grass. Dirt gathered itself up under her nails and the soothing dampness cooled off her bare feet. It had rained during the night and the proof was in the pudding. Aside from the wet ground, she could feel it in the air, smell it and taste it on her tongue. She'd heard it too, it kept her up half the night, smattering and pattering against her window. Hinata had been aching to go outside and dance around in the garden.

The garden had been her only choice for such a long time, she didn't know anything else. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere else, at least not alone. Due to this rule, she'd never been outside of Konoha's walls, not even once and walking around in the village was just as rare. However, this rule had been stretched since she'd met Kamichika Haruko. The girl was six, a year older than herself. She had long hair, the colour of mandarins, a wild look in her green eyes, freckles on her sunburned nose and a missing tooth. She was everything Hinata wasn't and maybe that's why they were best friends. Or maybe it was because they both didn't have any other friends to hang out with. They had each other and that's what mattered.

Haruko had just enrolled in the ninja academy a few months back, something she liked to boast about. Still, Hinata loved listening to her tales about the different jutsu's they were learning about. It just made her all the more exited for when she herself was supposed to be enrolling, which is next year. Haruko always dragged Hinata along for whatever adventure that crossed her mind. Playing tag around the Hyuga compound, hide and seek in the village or maybe just relaxing in the sun, looking at the clouds.

This time was different however. Hinata was originally going to spend the afternoon with her mother, arranging flowers in the garden and drinking tea. Only, it never really came to that, her mother had been very tired and had to go to bed early. Hinata was young but she wasn't an idiot. Her mother had been sick since her little sister came into the world and sometimes that sickness acted up and made her weak. She remembers her mother's pallid features. Her face, contorting into a pained expression and her whole body shook as she coughed. Pale and frail, she would assure Hinata that everything was fine but she couldn't play with her this time.

"Next time," she would tell her with a sunlit smile and weary eyes.

After that, Haruko had appeared out of nothing it seemed, knocking on her window. The six-year old promised her a great adventure to lighten her mood and now, Hinata was beginning to question whether or not it had been a good idea in the first place. At first, it was fun and thrilling to sneak past the guards while they were on their break. It had been exciting to finally see -at least- a small portion of the fire country. Haruko said they were going to look for fairies and if they were lucky, maybe even catch some. Her mother and he maid Reiko-san usually told her tales of the flying little people before she went to bed. The thought of actually seeing them in real life made her jumpy with enthusiasm. However, Hinata had hesitated at the gates though, remembering her father's scornful and stern gaze.

Nevertheless, she determinedly pushed her worries away and ran like a small, black and white animal towards Haruko. Holding hands, they sprinted through the high grass, trying to desperately muffle their childish giggles. The forest mapped out before them, dense and enigmatic. The deeper they went, the more greener it seemed to get. The trees went on forever and she couldn't see the sky anymore. Thick branches reached out, entwined and twisted. A protective blanket of leaves covered the skies and different shades of green were lit up by the creeping sunbeams. Now she understood where their village got their name from. The nature seemed almost magical and she would be surprised if they didn't find any fairies here.

They spent -god knows how long- running around, rolling down small hills, picking flowers and climbing trees. All the while, determinedly keeping an eye out for the small flying creatures. Soon, mud covered their hands and knees, leaves and small twigs stuck out of their hair and Hinata had finally calmed down. She sat in serenity on a moss-covered rock, making a flower crown. Her toes dig neatly into that special, special grass as water dripped down from the leaves above, making a peaceful drip drop noise as it hit her forehead. Haruko (who had been utterly crestfallen when they hadn't come across at least one fairy) had wandered off, trying to see if maybe some where hiding away in the rabbit holes they'd come across earlier.

Hinata whose feet were hurting, was completely fine where she was and decided to simply wait for her friend to come back. That was a mistake. She had been sitting there for some time now and Haruko seemed to have completely disappeared. Hinata had been so deep into her thoughts that she hadn't realised how much time had passed. When she did however, she could practically feel her father's enraged eyes on the back off her neck, burning her, scolding her. Why wasn't Haruko-chan back yet? Had something happened? She swallowed thickly and something frosty coiled itself in her stomach. It creeped up to her dry throat and everything suddenly felt so wrong. She's probably only taking her time, getting distracted by all sorts of things... surely...

Reassuring herself didn't exactly work and soon unshed tears stung her clear eyes. Her father told her once that she shouldn't be crying so much so she bit her lip and held them back. Her fingers clamped down on the crown of petals in her hand and she rose to her feet. She figured that if she just walked in the direction Haruko left in, she'd come across her in no time.

"Haruko-chan!" She called out to the empty forest, noticing with alarm that the sun was beginning to set.

And so, Hinata trudged on, shouting the redhead's name over and over again, high-pitched and desperate sounding. Although her voice was heavy with sobs, she didn't let one tear fall, at least not yet. Leaves and twigs rustled and snapped under her sandals and she pressed her flower crown close to her chest, as if to protect it from something. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she tried to remember where exactly the rabbit holes had been.

Hinata walked and walked, in circles it seemed because she could've sworn that she'd seen that tree before, that rock and those bushes. Everything looked the same to her and she didn't know how much longer she could keep the tears at bay. They threatened to spill over, flooding her face and washing her away. Her eyes blinked away the blurriness in order to scan her surroundings. A flash of auburn hair, a loud voice full of mirth, anything really.

"Haruko-chan, where are you!?" she kept calling out, her girly voice shrieking through the woods.

She didn't know how long she had been walking like this, shouting her name again and again like a broken record. Her feet ached and her voice was hoarse from all the screaming. Panting heavily, she sank down under a tree, huddling up against the harsh bark for some kind of comfort. Staring expressionless at the flower crown in her hands, she numbly put it on her head. It was a tad too big and sank down to her eyebrows but it still fit. With trembling fingers, she slid off the little backpack, she'd brought with her. Inside were a bottle of water and two apples, just in case she got hungry.

Haruko had insisted on taking something with them since fairy hunting could be exhausting. Hinata didn't know how her companion suddenly became an expert at the subject of fairies but she didn't question her. It seemed so fun at the time, like a picnic. Now however, she just stared blankly at the red apples, not feeling hungry at all. She did pick up the water bottle though, since she had a sore throat. Taking only a few sips, she closed the lid again, not wanting to drink it all. Instead of putting it back in her bag though, she merely held it in her hands, clutching it tightly.

Hinata looked then down on her clothes and she felt even more miserable. Her sundress had dirt all over it and was completely ruined. Her mother would be so disappointed in her... if she ever get to see her again. The horrid thought that she may never see her family again, set something loose in her. She looked up just in time to see everything melt into each other, becoming blurred like messy watercolours. It began with small gasps and sniffles. Then it turned into sobs that shook her entire body, it morphed into wails and soon her whole face was drenched with salt, her nose red and cheeks flushed.

She couldn't remember the last time she cried this much... She didn't care what her father said. Hinata wept and wept until there were no tears left... which took awhile. She curled into a small ball, her knees firmly pressed up to her chest, head buried in her arms as they wrapped around her legs. The water bottle might as well crack under the pressure of her clammy fingers. She stayed like that for god knows how long but eventually a sound woke her up from her tormented and trance-like state.

It was the noise his feet made as he walked towards her. Crunching and snapping, the sound of life. Hinata slowly snapped out of her self-pity, she carefully looked up, her eyes bloodshot and cheeks tear stained. She was afraid that it would be a dangerous animal, coming to eat her alive. Like the wolf from little red riding hood. It might as well have been. It was a young adult... maybe...? He looked young but something about his eyes and told her otherwise. His eyes reminded her of some of the elderly clan members, they seemed deep and knowing.

They held a stunning almond colour, a light brown hue that reminded her of chocolate milk. He had slightly disheveled hair, reaching down to his neck and brushing his ears. It was pure red and not orange like Haruko's. It looked like someone had melted rubies in his locks, staining them in a clear blood-red colour. It stood out against his tanned, bronze skin. All in all, he was very pretty aside from the mud he was caked in... well it wasn't that bad but it sure looked like he'd been in a vicious fight recently. Well she herself wasn't exactly clean either... Hinata bit her lip, worried that he may actually be someone dangerous. Like the wolf.

"H-hello..." she hesitantly said, amazed that she didn't stutter as much as she usually does.

He just stared at her, his eyes calculated and brows furrowed. He was obviously a shinobi, given the scrolls hanging by his hips and the kunai's in his belt. He even had a long, sheeted sword, hanging still by his side. Even though she hadn't attended the academy yet, she knew about the basics since pretty much her whole clan consisted of them. The man before her wore a light brown flak jacket, only a little similar to the ones in Konoha. He had bandaged arms with fingerless black gloves and dark pants with black sandals. He didn't seem to be from the leaf village, not even close.

"A-are you...alright...?" her meek voice rang out like a whisper, barely there at all.

It was still hoarse from all her crying. He stayed silent and she was starting to become very nervous. Why wasn't he saying anything? Could he maybe be mute? Her wide seashell eyes locked with his brown ones, still full of tears. Suddenly, the wilderness rustled beneath his sandals as he moved. He took several large strides towards her, never looking away from her eyes. Hinata felt frozen and deep feeling of unease settled itself in the pit of her stomach, coiling around like a snake. Everything just felt so disturbing, the man actually didn't look quite... right.

Crouching down in front of her, he reached out and swiftly plucked the water bottle from her grasp. She got a whiff of his scent and it reminded her worn out candles, something smoking, giving away a leathery smell. Like earth, ink and old parchment... and like wood. It was a strange smell that seemed to belong more in a library than on a person. She stared at him with a peculiar look as he opened the lid and proceeded to wet his face with the cold water before taking a big gulp of it. His actions had startled her and she tried to hide it but failed miserably.

Now that he was closer, she could make out a ring of a reddish maroon colour, circling around his black irises, like a snake biting its tail. It mixed his eyes into a very unique colour, one she hadn't seen before. They seemed to whisper of unspeakable things, like a very old and secretive book. He had to be older, maybe not an elder but still quite old. Maybe like her parents or older cousins? Hinata had always been a keen observer, even at such a young age. It's what happens when you grow up with a clan of mistrusting people with all their ulterior motives and higher expectations. This did not make her wise though, or even particularly smart.

"What's your name, girl?" his voice was smooth and soft like silk. It rang like a bell in her ears and she felt compelled to answer it.

"Hinata," she carefully said, the words coming out surprisingly fluid.

"Hinata..." he slowly repeated, like he was tasting the word as it's syllables rolled of his tongue.

His lips curled into a small smirk. "You're a Hyuga right?"

It was a rhetorical question since he didn't wait for her answer, nonetheless she was a bit surprised.

"Your eyes are a dead give away." He made a small gesture towards her large pupil-less orbs and Hinata suddenly felt stupid for not thinking about that earlier.

He closed the lid and handed the bottle back to her, now half empty. "Thanks for the water, it was greatly needed."

She nearly reminded him that she hadn't exactly offered it to him in the first place but quickly changed her mind, not wishing to displease him.

"Y-you're welcome," she gently murmured out, putting the bottle back in her bag."Um... may I know your n-name?" she continued, shyly looking up at him.

She could see a faint reflection of herself in those maroon eyes and it was hard to look away. Their beauty transfixed her, one could say. He was quiet for a while as if pondering on something and then he finally said: "Sasori."

She nodded at that, not pushing him for more information. Remembering her mother's lesson in politeness, she kindly smiled at him.

"Ah... it's nice to meet you, S-sasori-san."

She suddenly felt self conscious, what if he had seen her crying? Biting her bottom lip, she pushed away the ominous thought and instead reached out her small hand as a greeting. His gaze sunk down from her eyes, following the movement of either her compulsive lip biting or her outstretched hand, she wasn't so sure. He slipped off his glove and just took a hold of her fingers, shaking them lightly. Hinata expected him to let go of her hand then but was soon proven wrong. He raised her slim hand to his lips, giving her a small kiss on her pale knuckles. It went by quickly but by the time he'd let go of her hand, she was already blushing. Her cheeks turned into a rose-red colour and she actually felt giddy as he put the glove back on. No one had ever done that before and it made her feel special, like someone actually cared about her besides for her own sick mother. Something fluttered around in her stomach like butterflies.

"The pleasure is all mine, Lady Hinata," he said smoothly, eyes twinkling at her almost mischievously.

"Ah...erm j-just call me Hinata..." she stammered out in a childish voice, her face red like his hair.

"It is only right to call a pretty girl from a noble clan, a lady." He raised an eyebrow as if it was glaringly obvious. "But I guess I could merely call you 'Hinata' if you will it," he added as an afterthought, abiding politely to her wishes.

He was too polite but that's not something she would pick up on. She wouldn't pick up on his pandering either, after all she was only five. His face changed drastically to something more serious then, but it never lost its soft touch.

"May ask you why you were crying, Hinata?" he asked her in a soft, coaxing tone.

Her face grimaced in a distressed expression. Shame hung heavy on her shoulders and she looked down at her feet. Just thinking about the situation she was in made her want to weep once more.

"Ah... I-I'm lost, I think... I can't find my way back to the v-village."

He lower lip wobbled dangerously and her small teeth clamped down on the pink flesh.

"What were you doing out here in the first place?" he prodded with false patience that the little girl failed to detect.

"I was... with a friend. We were out exploring, looking for fairies..." Her eyes widened suddenly, as she realised something. "H-her name is Haruko, she has red hair like mandarins and g-green eyes. She is very loud as well... have... have y-you seen her?" her words came out in a rush and her eyes shone with hope for her missing friend.

"No, I'm afraid I have not, Hinata." He sighed. "But I am going to take you back to your village seeing as I'm heading towards Konoha as well. I'm more than positive that your friend will be there waiting for you." He assured her, watching as her face fell slightly only to loosen up a little at his confident words.

He rose to his feet then, towering over her shrunken form. He held out a hand for her to take and she joyfully took it. He was the forbidden fruit, the maw of the wolf and she, the little lamb had just skipped right into it. All of her worries, were blown away by now and she looked up at him with something close to admiration in her white eyes. He took her hand in his larger one, rough gloves engulfing her baby skin. Hinata felt strangely safe. The forgotten bag, were left behind as they disappeared into the trees. Though, not quite in the direction of the village... then again, she didn't notice that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

He'd been on his way to meet up with the two men that had hired him. He was going to get more information about his mission as well as go through the payment and where they would meet up after the whole ordeal. Rather than moving around in the form of Hiruko, he went on foot. The large puppet was undergoing some adjustments and repairs, where it waited back in one of his workshops, albeit still in the fire county. Even though it was faster to jump through the trees like this, he still didn't like the idea of showing his face to his clients. Sasori would simply have to cover himself as best he could. It was too risky to use an impersonation justu... His "clients" would be able to detect it at once and that would just bring unnecessary trouble.

All though, they weren't S-ranked, they still had the worth of being 'A' in the bingo book. Nevertheless, when he somehow managed to run into a a pair of konoha-chunin, he started to bitterly miss his puppet shell. There had been about five of them, nothing he couldn't handle but it would just go faster with Hiruko there... then he could just slice through all of them with his tail. He almost felt bad for them. Judging from their shocked expressions and the fear that hung in air like a rain cloud, his arrival had been something less than a pleasant surprise. They didn't count on seeing an S-ranked missing nin so deep within their territory.

Half of him had been annoyed at being delayed whilst the other half trembled in voltage. He did need a little excitement after all, even if they didn't pose much of a threat to him. Sasori played around with them a bit before finally putting an end to their miserable existence. None of them had any outstanding abilities so naturally, they weren't worthy of his art. Irritatingly, he was a bit dirty from what felt like a more and more useless encounter by the minute. One of the kunoichi's from the group had set off some uninteresting earth-style jutsu. It obviously didn't go as she planned but some dirt had still flown onto him from the impact. Harmless as it was, he was still greatly disturbed. He crushed her jaw and tore open her neck for that.

Even though he enjoyed the gruesome picture of blue chakra strings, cutting into her throat like bread, he was still unbelievable annoyed. That was the downside of his occupation, he constantly got dirty (something he wasn't a fan of). He needed to find water, maybe a pond or something so he could wash himself. Luckily, there was only mud and no blood on him this time around, blood was harder to wash out after all. That's when he heard a low yet indisputable sound, the sound of someone crying. The closer he got to the source, the louder it became and now it began to sound more like a wail. His suspicions came true as he finally came upon a small glade. In the middle of it, under a large tree, there sat a shivering bundle of tears.

A little child, pale skin and charcoal dark hair, curled up in a ball of despair. A flower crown hung loosely around her head. White and pink-spotted lilies came in contrast with the blackness of her short hair. Just as any other child, she cried and all that crying made a disgusted snarl creep unto his face. Sasori didn't know how to handle a crying child so he elected to swiftly leave the unwanted scene or maybe slice her up into small pieces for the terrible noise. He could just cut out her tongue and gouge out her eyeballs, after all, he was already annoyed enough and the girl wasn't making it easy.

It was a hard decision but he figured it would be unnecessary to cause any more trouble. He already had three dead chunin on his hands and although he had hidden the bodies quite well, it was still a matter of time before they were discovered. It would be unnecessary to add a child (who people probably already were searching for) to the collection. If someone found evidence of his presence here, then the whole forest would be littered with ANBU. That would be immensely troublesome if it happened before his mission were complete...

Sasori was just about to turn around when he saw a glimpse of her eyes. Snow-white and foggy, swimming with tears. Like dying stars, they looked at him, not really seeing him since he'd stayed hidden but still, their eyes made contact whether she realised it or not. She was obviously a Hyuga. Large and pupil-less orbs looked into his own widened ones. Many would have dubbed them as 'soulless' but to him, her very soul were just as clear as the sky above them. They were translucent, like a pair windows, showing of her sadness in shock-waves and gorgeously framed by long, dark eyelashes. The puppet master's eyes stared intently at the girl and he almost forgot how to breathe.

It was the first time that he'd found something truly beautiful (other than his own art of course). A sudden urge came over him to... do what exactly? Preserve her beauty and her youth? If he was going to do that, he needed to turn her into a puppet, to kill her and morph her into his art. He never turned children into puppets merely because they wouldn't make any good puppets. They were inexperienced and didn't know many jutsu's, it was just a big waste of his time, abilities and resources. A frown marred his face and his eyes narrowed. He didn't really want her to die either... it wouldn't be necessary. A surge of discomfort overcame him and he realised the uncomfortable fact.

She just happened to rival the beauty of his art... she just happened to have a constellation of tears on her lashes that glittered in the setting sun... she just happened to have a flushed heart-shaped face that he could cover with just the palm of his hand. Couldn't he keep her? She was such a small, fragile thing and her innocence was practically tangible. He could easily crush it beneath his fingers. He had never really cherished the term "innocence". Given to the harsh reality of the world, it was something fleeting, not staying for too long. His own had been tarnished a long time ago (if he ever had one) and it wouldn't be any different for this little girl.

She would grow up, probably become a shinobi due to her Hyuga heritage and ultimately take a life. Many lives, killing in the name of her village and probably die herself when the time came. Die for her village, like so many before her. He didn't want her to die though. She was artful, almost perfect. Like any other piece of art, she too should be kept alive, non changing. Like the dutiful artist he was, he felt the need to complete her. She was an unfinished piece, not quite perfect, not yet. He could fix that. He could make her perfect, shape her, form her, train her and ultimately keep her. After all, Sasori wasn't one to deny himself beautiful things. He'd never had a student before... maybe it was time. It was -a spur in the moment- decision but it was now or never.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't fully noticed that she'd stopped crying. Her head was resting neatly on her knees, buried in her arms. Her fingers clutching the plastic bottle until her knuckles turned white. He could see that it was still water left in it and he did need to wash himself. He decided to make his presence known then. He finally had a reason to. Sasori actually didn't know how to properly approach a child... much less a child in turmoil. Well the girl wasn't bawling anymore but she might as well go for another round of tear shedding.

Chances are that he'd just make her cry even more and that would be (very, very, very) unfortunate. Luckily for him she had indeed calmed down as he stalked up to her. Her head snapped up at the sound of his feet, walking towards her decidedly. She didn't look scared, which was a good thing, though she seemed a bit confused. She proved to be quite naive (not a big surprise there considering her age), which was good at the moment. She talked to him without fear, though he could tell that she had a shy, stuttering nature. Her voice was high pitched and meek as she -with noticeable difficulties- laid out her sentences. She sounded more like a small mouse than anything else.

She asked him who he was and if he was alright. Sasori was a bit puzzled at the last bit but soon remembered that he must look like he'd been rolling around in the dirt. He didn't answer just yet and due to that she turned more and more unsure of herself. Her stuttering became more apparent and it didn't help when he without a word grabbed her water bottle. She watched in silent shock as he opened the lid and drenched his face in the liquid, as well as drinking some of it. Sure, most missing nin would be skeptical, thinking that the water could be poisonous... but not him. He was in fact immune to every kind and besides, why would a little girl carry around a bottle full of poison? He wasn't directly 'clean' but at least he was cleaner than before. It was better than nothing.

He sat then, crunched down in front of her, studying her intently. She looked even more magnificent up close. He wanted to hear her mild voice again, his ears almost demanded it. He kept his cool though.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Hinata"

It was a pretty name for a very pretty girl. He calmly commented on her eyes, asserting that she must be a Hyuga and wasn't surprised to know that he was right. Of course he was, anyone could have correctly guessed her heritage. He was a bit pleased though to see a small flicker of surprise in her pallid orbs. She was so gullible. He decided to play nice, to put on the facade of a polite stranger. He calmly handed her water bottle back to her, thanking her for the refreshment. It was then that he decided that her reappearing stuttering would be something he would have to get used to. She stammered out polite sentences and gentle words that burned his ears with their lenient nature.

He gave her his name when she asked for it, figuring that it wouldn't cause any harm. The girl had even reached out her hand, expecting him to shake it and he was struck by how well raised she had been, even at such a young age. Well she was from a noble house after all and a privileged upbringing was expected. Such children could turn out in one of two ways: snobby and arrogant or too naive and polite to say no to anything. Hinata was obviously the latter. How old was she anyway? Sasori would have to ask her that later. He took off his glove, wanting to feel the texture of her skin, after all, skin was something he constantly worked with. It was a big part of his art. Her skin didn't disappoint.

He merely held her slim fingers, gently shaking her hand as if she would break at the slightest touch. He couldn't help himself and placed a small kiss her knuckles, after all he would use any opening for manipulation he could get. Her skin was soft and sweet. Her hand was small and chubby in his own, much bigger and rougher one. The small hand was so pale that he could see the blue colour of her blood veins as they pumped out liquefied heat throughout her body. That same heat rushed to her cheeks and he was rewarded by the sight of her near-perfect face, blushing in a crimson hue. He held her hand bit longer than necessary.

Even though he had just met her, he had already decided that she was his. She was art after all and he was an artist. They obviously belonged together. He dutifully kept up his charade, leading on the conversation. Playing the role of a charming stranger, as he coaxed her to warm up to him. His words and tone were of sweet honey and sugary syrup. Flattery could take you a long way, (especially when it was directed towards a young child). She had looked ashamed when he'd asked why she'd been crying. Nevertheless, the small girl slowly unfolded her story. Hinata had been out on a little fairy hunt (it was hard not to crudely laugh at that) with her friend Haruko, when they had somehow gotten separated. She couldn't even find her way back to the village. Sasori "the ever gracious gentleman", offered to take her back to konoha, easing her worries with the suggestion that her friend had to be there already, waiting for her.

She was so credulous and pure wonder shone brightly in her eyes as she looked up at him. He took her hand and lead her away through the woods. She thought they where going back to konoha... It's a pity that he had other plans. One could say that they where going on a little excursion. After all, he was in fact going to see two rouge shinobi's first. Then, they where going to head to the leaf village... together of course.

...

Hinatas toes curled into her sandals and her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip. She was struggling with whether or not to tell him that she really didn't want to walk since her feet hurt. It felt like a thousands needles as they cramped up in tension. She looked up at him, clutching his gloved hand with her small fingers. He seemed so mysterious to her, there was something that made him different from the rest. Maybe it was his hair...? It was after all, an unusual colour. She briefly wondered what it would be like to touch it... should she ask him maybe? She looked down at the moss-grown terrain, too shy to ask him anything, really.

"How old are you Hinata?" his voice broke through her troubled thoughts and her head snapped up to him, cheeks red.

"Um... I'm f-five but soon I'll be six," she said, peering up at him.

She lifted her head and discreetly stretched, trying to look taller than what she actually was. She didn't want to appear like small child to him, for some reason. She wanted him think that she was strong and not childish..., like everyone else thought. Then again... the word "strong" was something she only admired. Strength was something she saw in the eyes of her mother, her father and even Haruko. She never saw it when she looked in the mirror... but that didn't stop her from trying.

"I'll enter the a-academy, soon...," she continued on, a small smile on her pink lips and her excitement already shone bright in her eyes.

Her distressing thoughts from before, were not quite forgotten but blown away for the time being.

"Really? When?" he asked her, eyes glinting as he glanced down at her.

"Well... when I turn six I guess..." Her face turned a bit unsure.

"When's your birthday then?" he prodded.

"December the... 27th."

"Ah, then you'll have to wait until May next year, when the school opens again after the winter holidays," he said in -a matter of fact- kinda voice.

"I guess that's true..." Hinata knew better than to think that she'd be magically put in the academy, the very moment she turned six but the truth still stung a little.

"It'll only be about three months, little lady. Such time flies by faster than you think."

He must've sensed her loss in positivity. Hinata's eyes shone like small stars as a hesitant smile sprung out on her features. "H-how old are you, Sasori-san?"

He didn't answer at first and kept his eyes on the grass-covered trail before them. His expression unreadable to even the most keen observers. It seemed like he was thinking about something, contemplating something. Hinata started to believe that she had offended him somehow, when he finally answered her.

"I'm turning 24 in November."

He didn't exactly sound angry or irritated... it was more like he was being careful about something, not wanting anything unusual to slip out. Of course Hinata, gullible as she is, didn't pick up on that. Instead she was happy when he looked down on her, his hand squeezing hers in a reassuring gesture. Feeling a bit braver, she raised her head further, trying to get a better look at him.

"W-where do you come from, Sasori-san?"

Hinata's flower crown fell down a bit, shielding her eyes a little. When she pushed it back in place again, her eyes met his and she felt even more nervous.

"Far away from here... Suna to be precise. I'm here on a top secret mission, you see," he said with a curl of his lips.

"A-a mission...?" Dark eyelashes fluttered like wings, innocently enough.

"Yes, I'm hunting a criminal of sorts," he skillfully spun a web of lies, although half-lies.

"Is it dangerous...? W-will you be hurt?"

"Nothing I can't handle, doll." His smile widened, teeth shining like ice, before his face turned deadly serious.

"However if this information gets in the wrong hands, it could be dangerous for many people in your village so this have to stay between us. It will be our little secret." His hand squeezed hers, slightly stroking her fingers.

"Aah...um I won't tell anyone, Sasori-san... not even mommy," her words came out in poorly concealed shock. Her eyebrows creased in worry. "P-please just stay safe..."

The man bent down then to her level, nearly laughing at how easily manipulated the small child was.

"It'll be a piece of cake. I'm not really supposed to tell anyone about my missions so it would mean huge trouble for me too, you know."

"I... My lips are sealed," Hinata whispered out, a bit calmer as she made a notion of zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

She gave him a small grin, easing up a little. They started walking again, hands locked together in a tight grip. She now had a secret to keep and it was exiting to say the least. She was important and she had a job.

"So doll, do you know where Sunagakure lies?" he said after a while, briefly looking down at her, directing her attention towards a new subject.

"S-somewhere hot... I think," she slowly responded, trying to remember the map she'd seen in one of the compounds library.

"Well you're right about that, you've never been there I presume?"

"Oh...no, I've never been to Suna before... what's it like?"

She felt like she shouldn't ask so many questions but she couldn't stop herself. The only world she's ever known is the one inside the walls of her village... the others belonged to the history and geography books. just like any other child, she was beyond curious and those books didn't do much to sate her curiosity... she had trouble reading them most of the times. Sasori let out a small snort.

"Well, sand covers the ground for as long as you can see, the sky is mostly clear without any clouds so it doesn't rain often. It is a desert after all." He looked down at her, their hands swinging back and forth. "It's very hot during the day but at night, the temperature can reach down to below freezing. However the stars are beautiful during the night."

Hinata hanged onto every word, imagining a mysterious, faraway land. "I like stars. My mother and I tries to look for them at night but they often hide..."

"Not in Suna," he responded with a teasing gleam in his eyes.

She bit her lip in disappointment, wondering why the stars would only show themselves in Suna. Suddenly something odd struck her.

"But... where is your h-headband?" She frowned in confusion. He was a shinobi so he should have a headband... right?

"Oh that..., I lost it some time ago and I haven't been able to get a new one just yet." He smiled at her a bit bashfully.

"Ooh... well I hope you'll get a new one soon... p-people say those are im-important."

She blinked up at him, believing his every word for she didn't have a reason not to. The pain in her feet seemed to have numbed and she didn't really see where she was going so Hinata should not have been surprised as to what happened next. Her heel hit a sharp rock, wet from the rain and causing her to trip. It hurt quite a lot and just like that the pain was back. She shrieked all the way, as she went stumbling down and landing hard on her back. Tears, running down her flushed cheeks. Sasori hadn't let go of her hand and stood awkwardly bent over her limp form.

He crunched down properly before her, searching her eyes.

"Where does it hurt?"

Hinata sniffed and tried not to cry anymore as she stuttered out; "M-my feet... they're hurting... I-I've been walking too much..."

Sasori bent down and speedily clipped off her sandals, slowly sliding them off her feet. Small blisters peeked up from her heels and toes. fresh and red.

"You'll have to wear better shoes next time you go out exploring, Hinata," he muttered in an almost paternal tone while examining her wounded feet.

The little girl meekly bowed her head and sniffed, feeling stupid. He speedily took off his gloves, putting them away in a his pocket. Two calloused but warm fingers settled under her chin, lifting up her head. He gave her pat on her wet cheek, his eyes calm like a summer breeze.

"Don't worry, doll. I'll have you fixed up right away."

Her lips broke into a giddy smile at the nickname and she soon looked down in wonder as he started to work on her feet. His tanned fingertips lit up in a green glow, radiating warmth across the blisters. Slowly, they sank back into her skin and the redness paled to snow. The ache disappeared along with the numbness and she could wiggle her toes without any issues. The glow vanished soon after and he expertly clad her small feet in their white sandals again.

"T-thank you, Sasori-san!" Hinata couldn't help but exclaim, her smile full off pearly teeth.

He swiftly put on his gloves again and reached down to her. She was scooped up in his strong arms, her head resting on his shoulder.

"I did what little I could, healing isn't exactly in my line of expertise," he said with a crooked grin.

"I think you did it perfectly, I-I don't think anyone could do it better," she whispered, eyes glowing in misguided awe.

"Thank you my doll... now hold on tight. We are going to jump through the trees."

He stroked her head and almost instantly, his feet left the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

A cry of fear mixed with excitement, bubbled up from the child's throat. It morphed into a girlish laughter that rang like bells in his ears, burning his eardrums. Her flower crown flew off her head and the girl could hardly care, as it skipped away in the passing wind. He thought he could hear her say "We're flying" over the rushing air. After some time, she finally shut up and stuffed her face in the crook of his neck, smiling widely.

Sasori had never held a child before and it was special kind of feeling... He was practically holding her fate, it would be so easy to snuff out her life. He just had to squeeze hard enough and her bones would break and she would suffocate. An agonizing pain for such a young mind, she would probably pass out from the shock. If he dragged out the torture long enough, her veins would surely fill up with Adrenochrome. Though he'd already decided to keep her alive as his own, and he wouldn't hurt her. She was art and so he should treat with the utmost care... if she behaved of course.

It was really starting to get dark now and the forest around them laid in a pale shadow with the occasional orange light from the sunset, peering through the leaves. Fireflies started to come alive and a bunch of crickets could be heard in the distance. The nightlife, slowly waking up, just as the girl in his arms slowly nodded off. He could tell as much by her deep and even breathing. He could only hope that she stayed that way. Their meeting place was a small glade, shadowed by trees and bushes. Not a shed of light for as far as the eye could see, not perfect but it would do.

Sasori tucked her away behind a large log on a pile of leaves and moss. Hinata slept quietly and deeply, motionless like a real porcelain doll, a small beam of light in the growing darkness. The July night was hot and damp so he didn't have to worry about her waking up from the cold. The two men he was supposed to meet hadn't showed up yet, so he took his time to carefully mask his face in a black cloth. Only his eyes and strings of his red locks were visible. He didn't particularly like the chances of people actually knowing what he looked like, hence one of the reasons he usually traveled around in Hiruko. Now when he didn't have his comfortable shell to hide behind, he had to accommodate some precautions.

He still didn't know how to feel about the simple-minded child, knowing his name and face but it wasn't like she would go anywhere. He just had to manipulate her enough and she surely wouldn't say a thing, though that depends on whether or not he was going to leave her in Konoha. He could always take her with him, train her, keep her... However, taking care of a child, raising it and acting pretty much as a substitute parent, left a bitter taste in his mouth. Quite frankly, he wasn't cut out for handling children and he would most likely just kill her off out of impulse... Sasori wasn't known to be the most patient man. The most logical solution would be to leave her in this disgusting rathole of a village. He would visit her of course, filling up a prominent role in her life. The girl was still his no matter what, he would make sure of that.

He climbed up in a tree and concealed himself in the leaves, keeping an eye on the barely visible child below. Up there, he waited, albeit not for too long. Hushed words and heavy footsteps reached his ears and his head automatically snapped to the left. A disturbance in the quiet dark, rustling leaves and snapping twigs. Two average sized men could be seen entering the small glade. Missing nin just like him, though their rank were considerably lower. They wore the usual gear for a shinobi, a dark attire with blue flak jackets. Their faces were unwisely not masked and he could see them clearly in the moonlight.

Normally, he wouldn't deal with such trash like these two but they did offer him an unusual amount of money and nevertheless he actually had business in the leaf village so he might as well kill two birds with one stone. Three, he corrected himself as he looked back to the spot where Hinata laid hidden. Sasori promptly jumped down from the thick branch and landed almost soundlessly on the grass clad ground. The men before him took a step back in surprise but managed to keep the shock out of their faces. The short one with a moss of blonde hair spoke first.

"Where the hell have ya been?" he hissed at him like an angry cat.

The redhead merely raised his eyebrows, not entirely visible due of his mask. He didn't like rude youngsters like this one and it shoved itself in the tension of his jaw and the way his eyes narrowed into slits. He found his words particularly disturbing, seeing as he wasn't even late, if anything he was early. He decided to not make a scene out of it, though he would see to it that both of them would soon regret their hiring choices.

"Nevermind that," the second man blurted out before his blonde companion could further doom their fates. "We don't have time to argue, you need to know what you're looking for," he continued with a noticeable stressed expression.

He looked at Sasori but had trouble keeping eye contact with the missing nin. He opted for a spot on his right shoulder and kept his blue eyes there.

"You are going to look for a specific drug for us. It's called Burundanga or Scopolamine in some cases, and it's stored in the hospital building. It's locked up tight in one of the storage rooms in the basement... according to our informant." The man's words became more and more relevant as Sasori indeed recognised the drug of question.

He knew of simply every drug and poison in existence. He began to hang unto his words, wondering what they needed the most dangerous drug in the world for. Though he wasn't going to show his interest or that he even knew of the drug.

"We don't know which room though but you're going to need the keys from the head medic," the blonde kept on, his annoying voice poking holes in the puppet master's brain.

"The payment?" Sasori's voice came out slightly muffled but still had it's freezing tone to it.

"20 000, as we said."

"Show me."

The blonde one looked like he wanted argue further but wisely decided otherwise as he opened his backpack, showcasing layers upon layers of cash. He eyed it critically, not convinced in the least.

"Count it." His monotone command seemed to burn their ears.

The other more anxious man visibly flinched, his brown hair stuck to his forehead as he almost obnoxiously sweated.

"Look we don't have time for this, you will get the money, I swear it on me mums grave."

As much as he wanted to bash their heads in, he really didn't want to get blood on Hinata later. Remembering the sleeping child he had in his possession, Sasori gave the men a curt nod.

"Do keep in mind that if you lie to me... I will cut you up and stitch you together into a human centipede," his passive, perilous words sunk into the tense air like poison.

Letting that be his parting words the puppet master left the two men in silence. He turned around and began to walk away when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Leave my presence now or I might just do that right away and take the drugs for myself."

He didn't need to turn around to know that the men had scurried away like the cockroaches they were. The sound of fading footsteps and falling leaves was all that was left in their wake. He thought he heard the blonde one swearing and was probably right. The Hyuga girl slept like a rock the whole time and hardly reacted when he picked her up and left the glade, stealthily moving towards the leaf village. Deep thoughts about the newly acquired information seeped into his mind like sweet syrup. This mission was becoming more and more interesting by the second. Anything could be interesting when such a drug like that was involved.

Not to mention his own reasons for coming here... A small smirk perfected his features, fully hidden behind the mask. Carefully clutching the white bundle to his chest, he jumped forward, passing through trees and leaves. A shadow in the dark, melting into the wildlife and constantly disappearing from sight. The wind would've blown his hair back were it not for the black cloth wrapped over it. Due to his sleeper agents, he already knew which part of the wall that was low on security. He knew the rounds of the guards as well and when the time was right. The whole of konohagakure was covered in a force barrier of sorts, not visible to the eye but there nonetheless. As soon as someone without permission or the password entered the village, their presence would immediately be noticed.

Naturally that was not in his best interest. Luckily for him, he did have the secret password, which was a series of hand sighs only permitted to ANBU members and such... Fittingly his sleeper agent had been a respectable member of the black ops. Landing soundlessly in front of the massive structure, he quickly made a few hand signs with his free hand, activating an invisibility jutsu, which he placed unto Hinata as well. He faded away into the background, dissolving into thin air. After that, he laid the child down on the ground, bending down over her. His hands became a blur of movements as he executed the complex sighs. In a matter of seconds the air before him shifted as he completed the process.

The barrier was lifted and he picked up the sleeping girl again. With chakra pumped to his feet he ran up the large stone wall and disappeared on the other side, soundlessly landing on a small rooftop. The crescent moon above him looked to be of something otherworldly, big and yellow like a glowing streetlight, adored by a myriad of scintillating stars. Down below on the streets, a little ruckus had been made due to the missing Hyuga girl. Jounin and chunin haunted the streets, discreetly enough as to not alert the civilians. Though it was obvious that they were looking for something.

He decided to make his way to the Hyuga compound at once, the child was quite the burden at this point. He had been around here before so he knew the way all too well from previous missions and glimpses from his sleeper agents. Flashing through the buildings, he tried to shield the child from the snapping wind, tucking her away in his arms. He finally arrived at the massive Hyuga society. The clan-houses stretched out wide, it's windows were noticeably lit. It looked rich, with countless private training grounds and gardens. The structures were built in ivory wood and polished stone, the rooftops were in a brilliant blue. Perfectly fitting for a noble clan.

It was far from quiet though, as Hyuga members ran around like ants, looking for the missing one in his arms. It was indeed quite the ruckus... surely she couldn't be that important to spread panic to the clansmen? Sasori looked down at the girl in his arms, his eyes cold and scrutinizing. She had to be of the main branch to ignite such a movement... a little heiress maybe? He carefully brushed apart her bangs, covering her forehead. No cursemark, huh? So Hinata was extremely valuable then, who would've thought.

As interesting as it was, he didn't have time to dwell on it. Time was not on his side and he couldn't afford to waste what little he had left any longer. The puppeteer calmly jumped down from the rooftop, silently landing on the ground, just past the Hyuga gates. The alleyway was quite narrow, a perfect hiding spot. He deemed it fitting to just leave Hinata here, it wouldn't take long before she was discovered and their fruitless search would seize. She stirred slightly as he put her down on the gravel covered ground but made no more movements after that. He deactivated the invisibly jutsu after making sure that no unwanted eyes gazed upon them. It was a bother but he had to deactivate it from time to time in order to keep it up for longer periods of time.

His eyes took in Hinata's small form for a last time. She was curled into herself, much like the crescent moon above them. Her pale skin and white dress, illuminated by the darkness, cheeks a tad bit rosy and black hair, tousled with dark strings stuck on her lip. It didn't feel right to leave his art behind like this but he didn't have much of a choice. His hand made a flurry of movements and her figure shimmered into a red glow as he put a jutsu on her. A traceable jutsu that would allow him to pinpoint her location in the future. The redness dissolved as it was complete and he decided that it would do for now.

He stood up then, looking around with passive eyes. He knew just where he was going now and with the effectiveness befitting of a high ranked ninja such as himself, he skipped up on the windowsill at the wall behind him. From there, he was just about to catapult himself up on the roof when a soft whimper reached his ears.

"S-Sasori-san? Where are y-you going?"

The girl sat in a bundle of her own rumpled dress, staring at him with big innocent eyes. Like a lucid star in the night. He bit back an irritated sigh at being delayed. Jumping down, he walked over to the confused and bleary child and pulled down his mask slightly so she could see his face more clearly. She immediately reached out to him as he knelt down before her. She obviously wanted to be held. It was pleasing to know that he had practically won her over in such a short time. Sasori took a hold of her small hands, hiding them in his own. He wasn't going to abide to her every wish, this may very well be the first lesson he'll grant her. Hinata was not going to have the things she wanted by demanding them. They weren't going to be handed to her freely. In her life with him, her utmost wish, her goals and desires, would have to be a well-deserved reward for the effort put into achieving them.

"You're home now Hinata, we're inside the Hyuga compound," he said softly with a small smile.

"I...I recognise these buildings... I think," her voice was timid and unsure. She was confused, that much was clear.

"You need only to walk out of this alley and your clansmen will surely take you to your parents." Sasori stroked her petite and slender nose, taking in its striking structure. "You do remember what I told you right? About our secret?"

For a moment she looked puzzled as she seemed to be thinking hard on the matter. Before long though, a look of realisation crossed her pretty face and she almost frantically started nodding.

"I-I won't tell anyone, Sasori-san! I pr-promise." Her childish eyes stared up at him in blind trust.

"Good girl. Now I believe it's time to say good bye," he said with a composed and soft facade on his face.

"B-but... I don't want to..."

"Hinata," Sasori said with a stern gaze and that was it took for the little girl to comply to his wishes. "You have nothing to worry about, I will seek you out again."

The doll's frown turned upside down at his words and a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"When?" she asked with mirth.

"When I can, doll," he responded, not prone to set a specific date.

He placed a chaste kiss on her hand again before pulling her up to her feet. He pointed towards the Hyuga streets. "Now go to your parents, they must be worried."

The child nodded in agreement and she took a step forward before abruptly turning back. She tugged at his pants, looking up at him, a blush adoring her flawless skin.

"I-I erm um... C-can you...eh," she stammered out in a display of unsure trepidation. He wasn't sure what she was seeking but once again, he bent down to her level and studied her artistic face.

Apparently, that was just what she wanted him to do as a sweet smile curled her plump lips.

"A-are you my friend...?"

"Your best friend."

That seemed to please her greatly as she leaned up and placed a small peck on his cheek. It was fast and over in a mere second but he could still feel her childish love on his well defined cheekbone.

"Good bye then Sasori-san. Please... b-be careful," She grinned at him, eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

He patted her cheek in return and gave her push in the right direction. Her white figure hid itself in the shadows before turning a corner and exiting his vision completely. He rose again and covered his face. Activating the invisibility jutsu, he dissolved into the air, as if he was blown away by the passing breeze.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The medic nin bled out on the office floor, staining his pastel green clothes into a deep red colour. His face had a contorted, twisted expression. Grey eyes, wide opened in a horrifying look of pure shock, pallid lips drawn back in a shocked gasp. Sasori had cut his neck to the bone, spilling the gore everywhere except on himself, a practice that takes years of skill. The puppet master was normally not this brutal but this time around, he wouldn't mind slaughtering the entire hospital. A little bloodshed to soothe his brooding was never wrong. The key-ring that the medic had carried around his now gutted neck, held about five different keys, all looking pretty much identical.

Sasori moved like a passing shadow through the dimly lit hospital halls, down the stairs, through unmanned doors. He avoided people and confrontation at all coasts, in spite of his disgruntled mood. He was after all at the heart of the enemy territory and creating a commotion here would just not be in his favour. In the end, he came upon a large metal door and after trying out a few keys, he finally unlocked the thing. Swinging it open, his apathetic eyes came upon a dark hallway, lined up with three doors on each side. The storage rooms. He would go through all of them accordingly but he had to be quick. It was only a matter of time before someone discovered the head medic's body. He had stuffed him into a closet and put a carpet over the bloody floor, something that could buy him some time but not still not enough time to be lazy. Although laziness wasn't a personality trait of his.

Methodically, he searched the rooms, the cabinets, the shelves and boxes. Once he came upon the fifth room, his luck caught up with him. Packages upon packages stood lined up on the shelves. The big word 'Burundanga' could be read on the many plastic boxes. He wasted no time and dropped as much as he could fit into his bag, careful not to break any of the packages. Needless to say, he was content with his job and remained amused. Amused at the leaf for making everything so ridiculously easy... the Konoha ninjas had once again proven themselves rather naive to think that this remarkable state of perishability would suffice. The puppeteer raised his hand in a swift movement and disappeared into a cloud a smoke, all that was left were the bloodied keys he saw no further use of.

He reappeared a bit away from the hospital building, crouched down on a roof. The invisibility jutsu had worn off and he was reluctant to guise himself in it again, seeing as it drained him of chakra. He could just use a transformation jutsu now that he had left Hinata to her own people but he wasn't too fond of that technique. It had always unnerved him, to appear in someone else's skin for too long and he tended to avoid it as much as he could. But at trying times, he was simply forced to abide.

He performed the signs with a singular hand and morphed into a nameless leaf ninja he'd seen before. A chunin with brown hair and blue eyes, nothing remarkable that stood out, thankfully. Now he would simply attend to the real reason he was here and Sasori gazed back towards the Hyuga compound. He needed a puppet with those eyes... one would be enough but he'd rather take more than that to be bluntly honest. His lips formed a leer, teeth illuminated in the dark.

**...**

She had soiled her cheeks with fresh tears, her father's angry shouts, still fresh in her ears. He had been more than furious when their clansmen had brought her to him. Not even Mother could calm him down. She had sunken into a sullen silence, looking down at the floorboards.

"An heiress should know better than to wander about like a common fool! You should know better than to disobey my orders, both you and that peasant girl! How can you ever hope to become a great ninja when you can only bring dishonour upon your clan!" He had practically spat out the words, his furious eyes staring at her small form.

Hinata had never seen her father so full of fury before and it scared her more than any ghost story could. He screamed at her some more before letting her go to her room but not before she received several lashes over her fingers. They were now swollen and throbbed almost as painfully as her heart. Reiko-san had clad them in bandages and salve, promising to fetch her a medic in the morning. Now she sat alone on her bed, her father had forbid her of any dinner or bedtime stories. She was to be left alone to think over her misdeeds. She didn't think though... the aching hunger prevented her from thinking correctly.

She could only curl into a ball, clad in her blue nightgown and hiding under the covers. She sobbed in silence, her breath hitching up and down as she cradled her wounded fingers. She wondered why her mother hadn't done anything to help her, not even when she screamed her throat raw from the beatings. For the first time, Hinata truly felt like a failure, she deserved this... it was her punishment. Though, that notion didn't make her feel any better. If anything, it just made her feel all the more worthless. The crying girl, nearly jumped out of her skin from fright when the warm duvet was swiftly lifted from her. She flinched at the cold air and almost cried louder when she saw her visitor.

Sasori stood looming over her, his eyes seemed to gleam in the shadows. He bent down on her bed, pulling his cloth down so she could see him more fully. Hinata couldn't help it as fat tears kept on streaming down her flushed skin. She meekly crawled towards him, seeking his comfort. He took her into his arms after only some brief contemplation, running his fingers soothingly through her hair. She felt as if she might cry even more and he must have seen that for he hid her face in his chest, hushing her quietly. So she let out her distress in his brown vest. Muffled sobs, shaking her small frame.

Sasori sat still and silent like a statue and waited until her crying had diminished somewhat. Then he leaned back and examined her round face. A picture of bloodshot eyes, swimming still with fresh tears.

"You are crying again. Why?" he whispered to her, holding her head up in his hands, his eyes as unreadable as before.

Hinata looked down at her hands and slowly brought them up for his inspection.

"B-because it-it hurts...," she murmured out, biting her lip, a bleak look clouding her already misty eyes.

He took her hands without question and carefully unwrapped the bandage. Soon they were laid bare, red and bloated. They were even bleeding. His thumb traced over them and she hissed in pain. He hushed her again as faint green glow embraced her hands. A familiar warmth numbed the throbbing as her fingers were restored to normal. She looked up at the Shinobi, her eyes still foggy and lips trembling as a brave smile graced her features.

"Thanks Sasori-san," her voice whispered out, tear filled.

He only nodded, his mind occupied with other matters. "Who was it?"

He engulfed her healed hands in his, holding them in a solid grip as if to coax warmth into them again. She hesitated for a moment but his eyes leeched onto her, narrowed and Hinata knew that if she tried to lie, this man would be the first to know it. She didn't think she had a reason to be dishonest with him anyway.

"My... father." He didn't seem surprised and a part of her wondered if he knew all along.

"As some sort of punishment for your adventure?" he prodded.

It sounded more like a statement than a question. She nodded, looking down in shame.

"I... I deserved it though. He-he still l-loves me, I know it," she stuttered out but her voice remained somewhat strong.

He furrowed his brows for a second before seemingly casting aside her comment. He cleaned her face with his gloved hands, telling her to tell him more of what happened. So she told him, sitting crouched up to his side, basking in his attention like a snake on a sunny rock. She told him about how angry her father had been and how quiet her mother was. How she was sent to bed without dinner or even a story. How hungry she was and how she felt like such a failure. He had quite a bit to say about that.

"It is only when you think of yourselves as failure that you actually fail. Never give in to self doubt, that is what your enemies want, Hinata. They want you to be weak and defenseless so they can push you around how they want. So they can control you. The best thing you have is your pride and every time you cry, that pride will deflate little by little, as will the respect you could otherwise gain from others."

"So... I shouldn't cry...?" Hinata sniffed out, her tears already drying from sheer will. She wouldn't disappoint him.

"Never. No matter how much you want to, channel your distress into your training instead," Sasori calmly said, his voice monotone.

She sniffed once again and the red in his hair shimmered into a gleaming bronze in the lamplight. She nodded and clutched the warm duvet, dragging it up to her shoulders.

"Was there someone else that mistreated you?" A gloved hand brushed aside her hair and she briefly thought to associate the word 'all-knowing' with him.

"N...No not directly... but it was humiliating. In the corridor, one of the branch members made a comment and h-he smiled very un-unfriendly."

"A crude smirk, perhaps... What did he say, doll?" the sand nin prodded.

"He-he called me a disgrace, he said I shouldn't be in the main family, o-or even in the branch..."

"I know of your family's system, it is quite traditional. Nevertheless, do you know his name?"

"Y-yes... I think it's Sora... but I-i can't know for sure." She furrowed her brows at him. "Why?"

"Just a natural curiosity, it's just as I said Hinata. Don't let them get to you," he said with finality, cupping her full cheek.

"I'm afraid I can't stay for a bedtime story, I still got my mission you see."

Hinata was a bit let down from that notion and it showed on her saddened face.

"I'm h-happy you came b-back... but please d-dont go..." Her breath hitched.

"I have to."

"B-but I'm lonely..."

"Loneliness isn't always a bad thing, Hinata. It gives you precious time to yourself," he explained in a -matter of fact- kind of tone.

Her breath hitched once again and her eyes began to sting with new tears, they didn't fall though. She wouldn't let them and with a determined frown, she blinked them away, holding them at bay. Sasori looked at her sternly, his eyes narrowed but once he saw her unwillingness to cry, his features relaxed a little.

"Have this, it will help you sleep and soothe your hunger."

He dug into his large bag and swiftly pulled out another smaller bag. Opening it, he pulled out what looked like thick grass straws, dark green and curled around in circle.

"What is it?" Hinata wondered, touching the small vegetable. It was squishy and damp.

"It's a simple plant called Nemuru Shokubutsu, You'll need to eat all of it."

He gave her the green mass, placing it in the palm of her hand.

"W-will it taste good?" she curiously asked.

"That's up for you to discover."

She was hesitating and it showed, cradling the plant in her small hand. Nevertheless, she did not want him to think of her as a coward so she opened her mouth wide and swiftly dumped down the weeds. It was only a bit crunchy and it tasted sweet, just like honey. She munched on it like it was candy and soon as she swallowed, Hinata immediately wanted more.

"C-can I have some more?" she quickly asked, her eyes shining with a new light.

"No I don't think so, you should feel tired soon," he responded, putting the small bag back in his backpack.

His smile was strange one, a constructed, flawless curl of his lips and his eyes shone with amusement. A warm, fuzzy feeling grew in her stomach and spread throughout her body, her limps erupted in pleasant tingles all over. A giggle rose in her throat and bubbled out through her pearly teeth like small bells, she didn't know why though. But the will to even contemplate the oddness of it all escaped her. She felt safe and warm and happy.

The distress from earlier were blown miles away, forgotten for the time being. He observed her giddiness with that same knowing look as he slowly massaged her scalp in a gesture most would think as tender. Though it was merely something precise and planned for the moment. Sasori was an excellent manipulator but Hinata was far too young to even suspect that. Much too young... As her mirth died down, her breathing became heavier and she could feel herself sinking down into the bed below like spilt milk. Dissolving, floating away.

The girl watched as her vision became blurry and the colours seemed to melt into each other. Red, brown, white, yellow, a colour palette, like the ones she'd seen on the summer markets. In time, in mere seconds, she was falling away into comatose. The sandman creeped up on her and sprinkled dust into her bleary eyes, dragging her down into a deep sleep. She thought she always needed a story before bed but she was so very wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

Nemuri Shokubutsu was not listed as a drug in the fire country though that was not the case in many other countries such as Mist and stone and Grass. The topic was a bit controversial actually. The other nations did not agree with Konohas drug policy concerning the sleeping plant. Whilst it didn't ruse any violent delusions or psychosis, it still was in fact a very addicting drug and addiction makes people do many unhinged things. Never mind the fact that a consistent use of the plant could result in some serious health issues. Though not anything concerning the body, it was more centered around the psychological parts. Specifically the emotions, as well as the frontal lobe of the brain.

People that used the drug at least once a day for several long years did not experience emotions the same way others did. In a state of crisis, they would remain calm and undisturbed. Their heart rate would rarely quicken for severe situations. It was perfect for a shinobi but it was only ever used in the medical field as a sedative. Anything else was strictly forbidden in the fire country. It was believed that such an emotional handicap would only evolve people into psychopaths, which was the last thing a shinobi should be. There was of course research behind it but Sasori didn't know if it could be considered believable since much of it just came of as propaganda, at least to him and he was never wrong.

Nevertheless, the puppet master rarely used the drug, not because he was cautious though, he already was as psychopathic as he could get. He only ever used the drug when he needed to fall into sleep, artificial as it was. His puppet body didn't actually need sleep but he would still find it pleasing when he had nothing better to do. Besides in the aftermath of the drug, when he awoke, he would feel much more energetic and more clear of mind. It was a nice process, one he only ever indulged in at most thrice a month. In fact he was immune to most drugs (and all poisons in existence) however there were a select few drugs that still worked on him, harmless as they were. Nemuru Shokubutsu was luckily one of them.

It had been witty idea to give the drug to little Hinata. After all, children were much more influenceable by this drug, given to them only once or twice and they could be addicted almost right away. He would be careful as to not give her too much of it though but it was in his best interest to keep her dependent on him. It was quite enthralling actually.

The invisibility jutsu clouded him from sight as he jumped past the Hyuga rooftops. He was searching for one 'Hyuga Sora', a respective branch member. He should have asked Hinata what he looked like but that would have been way too suspicious. He had to make do with what he got, which was his sleeper agents and keen hearing. Perched upon a structure he looked out over the courtyard. It was lit up by several lanterns, either hanging off the walls or dangling in the hands of the lower ranked Hyugas walking around. Some were still i their shinobi gear, either leaving or returning from missions whilst other threaded by in their normal yukatas and trousers. All of them sported long hair in either different shades of brown or just jet black. Pale faces with even paler eyes, curse marks etched into their foreheads, some covered up and others not. The buildings of the branch families were not as luxurious as the main family's residence but it was still very rich and noble by average standards. This was an old clan and a very proud one.

"-Oi! Sora, quit lazing around and get your things!" a shrill female voice broke out through the cool night and Sasori was all ears.

Finally, lady luck had once more smiled upon him and a positively feral grin marked his lean lips. He looked in the direction of the commotion and saw a group of Hyugas, all looked to be either jounin or chunin. By their fitting ages, he would guess Jounin and he hoped he was correct.

"Shut up Sachiko!" a disgruntled voice came from the man at the center of the group."I can't find my bag, did you drop it in your laundry again?"

The man, belived to be Sora, was tall fellow with long brown hair gathered in a loose ponytail. He stared irritatingly at a younger woman dressed in a white kimono. She looked much the same and Sasori guessed that they must be siblings. Their hair was in the same brown shade and kept together much in the same style, their features were similar as well. His calculating eyes moved back to the man and the puppeteer knew that he had found his prey. The two Hyugas began to argue a bit until Sora gave up and walked away into one of the houses, seemingly looking for the missing bag. Sasori decided to stalk the man and so he did for the remainder of the night.

They were a team of three Hyugas, all middle aged and experienced. They were on their way to leave for Suna, he discovered. An A-ranked mission, a hunt for a group of smugglers that had been shipping illegal goods between both Sunagakure and Konohagakure. They were supposed to meet up with a team of sand nins later on the border in order to investigate the case together. It wasn't very interesting but it was necessary information nonetheless. This proved that they all were jounins, they wouldn't be assigned an A-ranked mission otherwise. A pleasing discovery. He stalked the team all the way through the village and out into the forest. It was very dark now and the moonlight laid shrouded by the trees and leaves, leaving it in a thick blackness. It didn't concern him much, if anything it was only easier to go unnoticed. However, he had to stay a good amount behind them as to not get noticed by their byakugan vision, it was something formidable even when it wasn't activated.

He had ended the invisibility jutsu though and moved now stealthily after the unsuspecting group, jumping silently from branch to branch. He wanted to wait it out until they were closer to one of his hidden workshop and that would take a while. He had to be careful with masking his chakra until then. The fire country was a vast landscape after all. He wasn't the most patient man but in this case, it was essential that he waited for the right moment. Deciding to set up a little trap, he quickly dissolved into smoke, a teleportation jutsu. The rouge nin landed a bit ahead of them, not too far away but far enough to set up some strings.

He had to use the right poison, everything had to be precise. After all, Hyugas could easily cut through any chakra based substances. Therefore the poison had to travel through the chakra itself, seeping into its victims skin and doing its work from there. Such a poison didn't exist to the common shinobi's knowledge... well except for its creator, himself. Although if someone knew of him, they knew of his techniques as well.

He recognised these mountains and that small, overgrown statue, etched into the ground. This was the place. One of his many settlements. It was a small glade, perfect for his plan. Once he was done, he left an opening in the web and waited high up in the trees for the unsuspecting Hyugas. Waiting for them to run straight into his net like a school of fish. Their byakugan wouldn't notice the strings before it was too late. People are sheep in a sense.

He already had three sharingan wielding puppets and it was only fitting to have a few Byakugan users of the same amount as well. It was so fitting he could almost laugh at his luck. He didn't though, he rarely did. Instead he waited until the three figures entered the glade and conveniently stopped to lowly converse with each other. From what he could hear, the three of them had apparently decided to stop here and make camp for the night. How lazy, seeing as they were barely into their mission... typical leaf ninjas. He spun into action then and quickly closed the gap behind them, catching them in a web of strings. He then pumped more chakra to his feet and jumped through the air, the branch he'd been standing on, snapped in two from the force. It landed with loud crash near one of the Hyuga shinobis. The jounin actually yelped in surprise much to Sasori's amusement.

"Who's there?!" another yelled out as they all swiftly armed themselves with kunais.

It was Sora who'd spoken, he noticed with closer inspection. The puppet master landed crouched down on a tree, horizontally with his feet planted there, buzzing with chakra. He was visible, right in front of them and their big byakugan eyes landed on him, veins popping around them. Activated and alert. The puppeteer pulled down his mask, letting it fall from his face. With his tanned face and red hair now unveiled, they could see him now more clearly as the opened glade in the forest offered up a bit of moonlight.

"Look...," one of the Hyugas said and gestured to the trees around them.

They all looked around them almost frantically to see that they were caged in. On each tree, on each branch, chakra strings were tied up, circling them like a spiders web. It shimmered into an nearly unholy blue light in the shadows.

"State your business, Shinobi," another Hyuga stated, loud enough.

"Wait... Don't you recognise him?" Another voice cut in, uncertain, the same one that he'd almost crushed with a branch before. A mistake on his part, seeing as he needed their bodies intact, especially their eyes.

"I do. That's Sasori of the red sands... S-ranked missing nin from Sunagakure," the man known as Sora spoke up and stared hard at the puppeteer.

"He uses puppets, be vary of the strings for they may be coated in poison-" Sora went on but he didn't get very far. Sasori didn't want him to spoil his creative ways, it was... distasteful that people knew so much about him. They didn't know everything though.

He wasn't happy with that. His eyes narrowed and in one swift movement, he pulled out a puppet, not his strongest but strong enough to be rid of these ants. It was required to see how skilled they were, seeing as they were jounins, he expected much of them and didn't want to be disappointed. He decided that he would try to spare Sora for last. Sasori disappeared in a puff of smoke as the puppet launched itself towards the small trio, well equipped with long blades and knives, all dipped in poison. The fight was on, the three Huygas had no choice but to focus on the puppet, seeing as they couldn't sense it's master anymore or even search for him with their byakugan. They simply didn't have the time to make much use of their bloodline limit as the massive flying weapon attacked them with brute force. They engaged all three, dodging blows and landing small hits on the puppet. Yet the puppet was quick and the blades were long and sharp and little by little it grew harder and harder to evade the deadly points. It was a special design, built to constantly self-improve by copying it's opponents moves. Not quite like the sharingan but formidable nonetheless.

"I can't see any chakra pathways," one of them shouted, as he ducked away, landing dangerously close to the blue net.

"That means it's a built puppet and not a reformed body from a former ninja!" Sora responded in return, seething with anger at his teammate's general lack of knowledge of the many infamous rogue ninjas in the bingo book.

"I can still see him up in the trees, did he literally try to hide from us?" the third Hyuga pitched in, avoiding a fan of knives by the hair and swinging his arm back to throw a sword at the massive puppet.

In his other hand, he threw a chakra induced kunai at Sasori from where he sat comfortably seated on a branch. The puppeteer smirked wolfishly as he slapped it away with a kunai of his own, his movement were like the wind. Invisible, fluid and fast, like air itself. All though, he had an lazy aura around him, maroon rusted eyes lidded and narrowed like a sunbathing reptile. This was child's play. His finger twitched and the puppet fired off senbons and shurikens from every angle. The men yelled in alarm as they ducked around wildly. Another three fingers moved as if they were dancing and on command, the chakra strings around them cut into the trees, advancing and making the circle smaller and smaller.

"Asahi! Cut an opening in the strings, we'll cover you," the only unnamed Hyuga shouted and one of them broke off from the group, his hand pointed as a chakra type like scalpel appeared on the top of his arched fingers.

Asahi seemed to have already forgotten what Sora had told them about the poisonous chakra strings... clearly this one wasn't very bright, nor his companion. Sasori made no move to stop him, knowing his fate and wrote him off as dealt with. He focused on the other two. Soon enough a scream filled up the glade as the Hyuga stumbled away from one of the now gutted strings. He clutched at his hand, an agonizing cry rising from his throat, over and over as if it was on repeat. His hand twisted and his teammates froze for a split second shouted back in concern. It was too late for the shinobi though. The man known as Asahi grew weak in the knees as he was filled with panic, trying desperately to think clearly.

The poison rushed through his bloodstream, attacking his inner organs and simultaneously his chakra pathways. It came with the kind of pain that completely hi-jacked the system, fogging the brain in pure torture as his body broke down inside and out. It was the kind of torment that not even the act of counting to 100 and back, could keep the coming insanity at bay. He fell limb but angled and shaking, to the ground. Thrashing about in the mud. Asahi's tongue became bloated and only guttural sounds escaped him now. Bloodcurdling and raw. His eyes widened, bloodshot and bulged out of their sockets like they were about to fly off at any second. Soon he had coughed and thrown up so much blood and guts that his noises finally died down, fading away together with his life. It was to no avail and the other two Hyugas dreaded for their helpless teammate, they knew the abrupt end of his sounds could only mean one thing.

They couldn't do much for him though, seeing as they were locked in combat, barely avoiding the attacks. The ongoing assault of weapons didn't leave much room for any jutsus. Sasori liked the look of pallid terror, the face one makes when standing close to death. It amused him. He was good at keeping his attention divided but not distracted, taking in the sight of the now dead man whilst simultaneously keeping his comrades occupied. Asahi hadn't had the chance to seal away his bloodline limit before his death. Now he had two eyes and soon he would have six.

One of the two remaining Hyugas sprang forward, leaving the puppet to Sora. He attacked the tree Sasori was seated upon, making rapid hand signs. Earth style, he noticed as the Hyuga pressed his hands to the ground and the it split apart under his fingers. The tree fell but Sasori was hardly bothered as he jumped back, landing on a second tree. It was time to finish this, he cannot let the Hyugas make too much noise. Snapping his fingers and causing the threads to move accordingly, he decided to get serious. The puppet started to move at his command, poisonous senbons breaking free, filled with chakra as they soared through the air. Both the Hyugas were now busy avoiding the weapons and he saw this as his chance. The puppet stuck out it's bony, wood fingers forming a sign as it dissolved into the air, invisible. He had actually dismissed the puppet but the Hyugas didn't need to know that.

The Hyuga that had tried to outright attack him, was breathing heavily now. Only two of the countless wave of senbons had grazed him but it was enough to doom him. He started to cough uncontrollably as he fought for air, clawing at his throat madly. He then tried to achingly slowly form the hand seals, the ones that rendered their eyes unattainable and useless if performed correctly. He couldn't have that and with a quick swing of his arm, he lodged a kunai deep in his skull. The Hyuga feel stiff to the ground and bled out. Sora seemed lose his composure at the sight of his dead teammate and that brief distraction was all he needed. Sasori, soundlessly teleported to the branch above him and descended upon the unsuspecting Hyuga. Right at the Byakugan blindspot.

The three shurikens between his knuckles dug deep into his spine and made him fall down with a scream. Sasori smiled at the sound. Sora's eyes were wide as he was panting wildly, heavily. He was sweaty and dirty all over as he struggled to stand on his own. The puppeteer decided not to leave any openings whatsoever, even if the Hyuga had trouble moving his arms correctly. He unsheathed the smooth sword, hanging by his side. Not too long to be a bother but long enough to be practical. With one hard swipe, he swung it down on Sora's wrists. The sharp steel cut through his flesh like butter and promptly severed his hands. The man screamed in anguish as he rolled onto his side, rocking and twitching as he stared at his stumps.

He was in a good mood, having been so entertained during this little quarrel. A smile crafted his face but his eyes remained ever so cold and narrowed. A spider, closing in on for the kill. The rush of adrenaline Sasori felt slowly dissolved as he realised that he now had to move each body into his lair to begin his art. A mild annoyance but nevertheless, he had to be quick in case someone happened upon his little mess. The day had been a success and he got what he wanted. That's when he realised that he still had to deliver the drugs and get his money... oh well, he would do it after he'd cleaned up here. A frown seeped into his face as he once again found himself in a foul mood.

**...**

"Hinata. Who. Did. This?" Hyuga Hana once again asked her eldest daughter, holding little Hinatas hands in a tight grasp.

They were seated at the dinner table, having breakfast when the mother had noticed her healed hands. There were no explanation for it, the medic they had called for was scheduled to arrive in the afternoon. Yet Hinata had strolled out of her room with a happy smile and not a scratch on her hands as long as the eye could see. The strict but loving mother couldn't comprehend it.

"N-no one mama... I-I don't why they are fine... they just are," Hinata mumbled out, watching her toes peeking out under her flowery jukata.

Her mother had been drilling her now for the past five minutes but the girl refused to give anything away. Her hands were starting to become stiff from the unforgiving hold but she would still not speak.

"My lady, maybe a clan member took pity on her and secretly healed her when no one was watching?" Natsuki, one of their maids suggested as she set down the tea.

"I suppose that's possible but that doesn't excuse Hinata's dishonesty," the lady responded after a while, her eyes narrowed and stern.

She finally let Hinata go and the child started stroking the life back into her hands. She was happy her father wasn't here at the moment, he would never drop it. According to Mother, he was at a meeting with the Hokage. Apparently something had happened, she didn't know what but she'd heard her clansmen talking about it in the corridors. She heard them mentioning some sort of crisis and an attack... Oh well, Hinata was just relieved her father wasn't around the compound.

Her morning had been pretty nice before the interrogation from her mother. She had woken up, nestled deep in her bed, feeling warm and well rested. She was happy too, happy and full of new energy, something she'd never been before on the mornings. Her young mind was still fresh with a dream she'd had. A dream full of summer and flower crowns, of sugary sweet honey, melting in her mouth and wild red hair coupled with bronze skin. They were hunting fairies in her dream. She missed her strange friend but he said he would come back, she knew he would keep his word. Why else would he say it? Hinata briefly wondered if she could have some more of that mysterious plant then, she dearly hoped so. It was even better than hot chocolate... The young heirless swung her small feet back and forth, picking absentmindedly at her fried rice. Suddenly a thought struck her like lightening.

"Mother, what happened to Haruko? D-did she come back?" she exclaimed, a lump in her throat as she watched her mother with worried childlike eyes.

"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you. Her mom called late last night in order to... explain. Her daughter had returned with a genin squad long before you showed up." Hana gazed at her daughter, her bright eyes rather inquisitive.

Hinata's story about last night didn't all make sense. According to Hinata, she had fallen asleep in the forest after trying to find her way back and when she woke up it was already dusk. She then 'miraculously' found her way back again and slipped through the gates seemingly unnoticed. It was quite unbelievable. The woman knew her daughter was hiding something but she knew she couldn't pressure it out of her. She would only become more tight-lipped. One had to coax secrets out of her and even then it was hard. She was just so quiet... almost like it was her nature to be so.

"When can I see her again...?" Hinata asked, dreading the answer.

"I think it's best if you two take a break from each other... You won't be seeing Haruko this following week," Hana stated and the finality in her tone left no room for argument. Still Hinata persisted.

"She is my only friend..." she tried, albeit weakly.

That was a lie, seeing as she had Sasori but she didn't even know when he would be back again... and it wasn't like she could tell anyone about him anyway. "You have your sister," was all the answer she got and that was that as her mother picked up her book.

Hinata looked over to Hanabi who was still no more than a babe. A flare of irritation rose in her gut but she quelled it by stuffing her mouth full with rice.

"Don't forget your Miso soup Hinata," her mother commented, not looking up from her book.

She didn't like Miso soup and her mother knew that. Just like that, her morning was spoiled.

**...**

The ticking clock was the the only sound in the third's office as the two men sat on either side of the desk. The clan leader: Hyuga Hiashi and the Sandaime: Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Apparently, your clan members never made it out of the fire country... The sand ninjas on the border told us so and after the search party we sent after them, we can conclude to that as well... A fight had broken out yes... but still no bodies, just lots of blood," the Hokage slowly said after a pregnant pause.

Hiashi did not seem surprised. "I heard of it yes... but you summoned me here for something else right?"

The older man gave the clan leader a long, knowing look. He sighed deeply.

"We've had a break in at the hospital... the enemy struck unseen, killing the head medic and stealing some of our highly valuable drugs... We have also found five dead chunins on the outskirts of the village."

Hiashi nodded at his words, his eyes going a fraction wider as he took a deep breath.

"It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. My clansmen, must have had a run in with this... enemy. We can only hope that they managed to perform the sealing jutsu before their deaths. The jutsu that seal away the byakugan when the user is close to death... Let's pray they were quick enough. After all, they were all a formidable jounin team."

"Well the shock of death can paralyse anyone no matter how experienced they are, but we must hope so yes. All though, it is weird that we didn't find any bodies." The Hokage pondered over his own words, is it worth going through their documents on possible known criminals and their different habits? Maybe so.

"That is bit concerning," Hiashi answered, sinking back into the chair.

"That's not what's only a bit concerning...this enemy took down a strong number of chunins as well as a team of jounins and even managed to even infiltrate the village completely un-sensed. They must have known the ANBU jutsu... there is no other explanation for it."

"Do we have a traitor in our midst, Hokage-sama?"

"I don't hope so... But we should still interrogate everyone on duty that night." The Sandaime entertained the possibility of a traitor but his gut feeling told him otherwise.

"Agreed. I will alert my clansmen to report their schedules." Hiashi started to rise from his chair when the Sandaime continued.

"I find it funny how we didn't notice anything seeing as your clan was active throughout the whole evening, looking for your missing daughter. It can't be nothing more than a coincidence..." the older man said almost nonchalantly but they both knew better.

Hiashi's shoulders tensed and his eyes narrowed into slits. "Is there something you are trying to tell me, Hokage-sama?"

"No... Just ask you daughter if she noticed anything out of the ordinary, she returned quite late, if I'm not mistaken."

The clan leader gave him a curt but respectable bow. "You are not. I will speak to her but I won't have her interrogated."

After that, the clan leader left in a puff of smoke but the tense atmosphere didn't change much. Only the ticking of the clock could be heard. Tick, Tick, Tick.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

Three weeks went by and the hidden village -which had been on high alert for quite some time now- was just beginning to return to normal. Hinata had noticed some of the change and it was nice to know that it was returning once again to normalcy. During the first couple of days, her father had been drilling her for answers, much like her mother. Only it was scarier when her father did it. He was always... more forceful. She didn't change her story once though and she hadn't cried either. If only Sasori could see her now... maybe he would be proud of her. Something that Hinata didn't like though, something that just surrounded her with an aura of wrongness... was Sora. He had been one of the three clansmen that had... well disappeared.

A funeral was held for them in the branch house. The main family did not attend of course, as did everyone else that didn't know the Hyuga team's direct family. Still it did not sit well with her... Sora had never been kind to her and she hadn't known him very well, if at all. He didn't need to disappear though... none of them had to do that. She couldn't understand it very well but it didn't stop her from feeling a bit sad. People had been talking about the attacks and Hinata wished she could open up and explain. Explain that there had been a criminal in the village, the criminal Sasori had been hunting. That criminal had to be behind all the craziness.

Her head hurt from thinking of such grown up things and she tried not to. She pushed it away, besides it had been quiet for weeks now so Sasori must have caught the criminal. He was a hero and she would have to thank him the next time they'll meet. However, she could finally meet up with Haruko again, someone she had terribly missed since her week-long punishment of not seeing her. Haruko had at first been cross with Hinata, saying that she had left her alone in the woods when it really was the other way around... She got over it though, saying that she would forgive the Hyuga heiress. Hinata wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault but ultimately decided not to, Haruko was impossible to argue with.

So the two friends spent their days playing and laughing within the confines of the Hyuga compound. "A passive adventure" her mother had called it, they were not allowed anywhere else without strict supervision. It wasn't all that bad though, sitting around picking flowers, drinking tea and playing with dolls. It was a lifestyle more befitting of Hinata's nature, she was a more idle and dormant creature. That was not the case with Haruko though, she needed her daily tag games in the gardens and corridors, something that Hinata had no problem with. They were both young and buzzing with energy.

**...**

A swooshing noise and a precise 'thump', reached her ears and Hinata shrunk away a little as the Kunai hit the bullseye, the wood cracking from the force. She shivered a little in her thin pink jacket and it was certainly not from the non-existent cold. She always felt unsure when watching her father train with his clansmen. He was so strong and precise, Hinata did not know how she could ever hope to be the same. The goal, the expectation seemed so far away from her grasp, so hopeless.

Hyuga Hiashi had insisted that his daughter should stay where she was, seated on a bench, overlooking the training yard. He wanted her to watch and observe for now. It was a custom to start off her training a few months before entering the academy, at least it was so in the Hyuga clan. But it was still summer, her preparations wouldn't begin until January. For now, she would watch and learn the names of weapons and such. Hiashi knew his daughter was a meek creature. She was small and weak, not at all how he was in her age. He knew he would have to work hard with her... but that still didn't rule out the bitter feeling of disappointment. He had wanted someone stronger for his first born. Her father did not hide these feelings and Hinata felt like such a fool whenever he directed that stone cold gaze on her.

She sat there in the sun, swinging her feet back and forth. She really did try to concentrate on her father and his men, understanding the attacks and the dodges but it was hard. Her opal eyes constantly flew away to the small gateway, leading up to the dense forest behind the Hyuga compound. It was indeed a small, red door only ever used by the servants as they made their way through the woods only to come back with freshly picked berries and apples. It stood wide open and almost seemed to invite her in with open arms. Hinata had no hopes though, she knew what her parents had said, she knew she was forbidden to go on any walks without supervision.

Still, she felt even more foolish, sitting there with the unimpressed and heavy looks from her fellow clansmen. No one in this place believed in her. She often wondered how different her life would have been, if she had grown up somewhere else. Maybe in a farmers house, or maybe in a palace high above the skies. In a whole different country, far away from Konoha with it's green hills and deep forests. What if she lived in Suna instead, surrounded by a golden desert, reaching as far as the eye could see, shrouded by a red sun. It was a pleasant dream... what if she'd grown up with Sasori and they had gone on missions together. Traveling all over the world with him would be a real adventure. Daydreaming away, she stared at the open red door, a glimpse into the wilderness. She knew she couldn't just get up and leave. She would never slip by unnoticed.

Suddenly she felt the air switch in front of her and as she broke her gaze from the crimson doorway, she could do nothing but freeze in place. Her byakugan activated on impulse as she listened to her own heartbeat in her eardrums. A kunai sat embedded in the sakura tree right over her head. Her father had thrown one at her, probably to remind her not to wander away in her head. She started to sweat and she was almost as ashamed as she was frightened. If only her Mother was here to shield her from the clan leader's angry look.

"Hinata, if I catch you daydreaming again, you will never hear the end of it," his voice was as cold as ice as he demanded her eye contact. He motioned for a fellow clan member to close and lock the red door.

"Y-yes, f-f-father..." she stuttered out, all her willpower focused on not crying. Not for her father's sake but for Sasoris.

The bulging veins sunk back into her skin as her byakugan deactivated itself. Hinata hardly had any control over her bloodline limit, it seemed to automatically go off on a deep rooted impulse more than anything else.

"Go find your mother, we are done here."

She needn't be told twice.

**...**

Just by the borders of the fire country, deep within the dense forest, a small statue sat rooted in the ground. It was partly concealed by the growing wines, bushes and moss, that had surrounded the stone with old age. If one knew the correct jutsus, the statue would shimmer into a faint bronze glow and the ground before it would scatter apart to reveal a hidden staircase. One had to move away as to not fall away with the moving earth. The long staircase went deep down into the dark, lit up by lanterns and eventually one would be met by a doorway, lined with even more concealment and sealing jutsus. The puppeteer had designed it so that if anyone's -but his own- chakra signature managed to get through the jutsus, the place would be set off to self-destruct. Sasori would not share his secrets with anyone.

Nevertheless, behind that heavy, metal door, a workshop spread itself out, like the great underground cavern it was. It was quite large and comfortable enough. The many lanterns bathed the underground hideout in an orange light and shadows danced like flames on the walls. Rows upon rows of different puppets hung down like curtains, looking much like limp bodies. The many wooden tables were littered with a variety of complex tools and unfinished puppet pieces like arms, legs and heads. They too seemed all too realistic... like real dried-out body parts from something that had once been alive. It was partly because they did come from living, breathing humans... once upon a time.

At the end of the walkway, framed by the strung up human-puppets, a figure could be seen, sitting bent over a shadowed construction. In front of the figure, over the large table, hung an old mirror. It showcased the redheaded youth, tinkering away at his creation. The orange lights turned even more vibrant in his scarlet locks. The newly constructed puppet barely made a sound as he tested its flexibility, bending the arm in different angles. Picking up the screwdriver, he tinkered a bit with the metal, fastening it by inducing chakra to make it more sturdier. Sasori leaned back and inspected his work, he was finally done with Hiruko. He had actually put the massive puppet on hold for the three Hyugas that had so conveniently landed in his grasp. They were all ready now, their fully developed Byakugan was their finest asset.

Now he had two of the three great Dojutsus and it was a pleasing accomplishment. It had been nearly too easy... Konoha had long since lost its 'will of fire' it seemed, if it ever existed at all. What he needed now was a jutsu, a scroll in Sunagakure that would allow him to see through his puppets eyes. Well he already could do that but what he really wanted was to use the dojutsus as if their were his own, to look through their eyes and control the puppets as if they were still alive, using their kekkei genkai. After all, a puppet with a dojutsu had always been a bit more advanced and he always looked to improve himself, to improve his art. He'd spent years researching the Konoha dojutsus, he liked to think he knew everything there is to know. He needed full access to those eyes.

Rising from the desk he made his way through his workshop to the bag, hanging on a stool in the corner. It was filled with money, the exact amount he was promised for the drugs. The packages of Burungdanga was probably being sold at the black market at this very moment. Though he had kept some of it himself, installing it into smoke bombs for the moment it would rise to convenience. He liked to be prepared for anything and everything. Burundanga, or 'The devil's breath' as it was commonly known, was without a doubt the most dangerous drug in the current time.

It was a powder, snow white like sugar. Once it was inhaled, by accident or not, even in the smallest amount, the effects would occur immediately. The poor victim would enter into a zombie-like state, eyes unfocused and drugged out. In that state they would do whatever was commanded of them. Like robots, they would be highly impressionable. They would slice off their own ears if asked and the pain would be non-existent. They would murder their comrades and kill themselves if someone willed it... much like a puppet without strings. Should the user survive the drug until it wore off, they would wake up with no memory of the incident.

Sasori wanted Hinata to be like that, a puppet without strings, doing his every bidding. His living puppet. He did not dare use the drug on her though, not everyone would survive its effects even if they did not come to bodily harm. It was too risky... and well, it was boring as well. He wanted to shape her, groom her into obedience and devotion. It would be a great opportunity to exercise his skills of manipulation. Come to think about it, maybe he should visit her one last time before he left for Suna. The puppeteer smiled, a smile that would look amiss and strange to others. It was constructed, not quite pure as it showed more teeth than normal. The grin was only bit lopsided as its right corner hung a tiny bit higher than the other. It was the grin of a wolf.

**...**

Many of the noble women of the Hyuga clan would practice the traditional fan dancing in the evenings. The beauties would dress themselves in glittering white gowns and kimonos, their fans, as pale as snow. Their long hair would either be braided in long tresses or be pinned up elegantly with only a few long locks hanging free. It was dark now and the clock was half-past 11. Normally they wouldn't hold the practices so late but since it was summer, it took a considerable longer time for the sun to set. Lady Hyuga Hana, had permitted her eldest daughter to stay up and watch and Hinata's eyes lit up with wonder at the performance.

The dancers glimmered like angels in the dark, where they would swing to the music of flutes and harps in one of the largest gardens of the Hyuga household. Blue lamps filled the rich garden where they hung from the trees and floated around on the koi pond's still surface. It bathed the dancers in an ethereal glow, illuminating them as their movements flowed through the air like calm waves. Like a moving sea of lucid stars. Hinata's mother had once been a fan dancer but that was long before the little heiress was born. Nowadays, she was way too weak for such activities. The young girl, broke her gaze from the dancers to look at her mother, trying to picture her swinging fans in her pale hands. She seemed to melt into her purple kimono and before soon she stood up from her chair.

"I'm much too tired for this, Hinata can I trust you to return to your room after the dance?" she said, softly enough.

The concern she felt for her mother was overtaken by pride at being trusted to manage herself for a while.

"Y-Yes mother, please rest well," she responded with an innocent smile.

Her mother gave her a soft curl of her lips and gave her a peck on her forehead, her curse mark, wrinkling as she furrowed her brows at the young child.

"I'm sending Reiko-san to collect you though... just to be on the safe side."

With a motherly grin, she ruffled Hinata's hair and then walked gracefully away down the corridors, her handmaidens following her steps. Hinata was only a little disgruntled but it was understandable that her mother didn't quite trust her and besides, she always looked forward to seeing the loving maid. The little heiress sat down on the small staircase, leading out to the dancers. She must have been there for only about 10 minutes before she remembered her drink. Her eyes were fixed on the shining figures as she reached down, her hand searched blindly for her cup of warm milk. Instead, her hand landed directly in something else's much larger one. It was an unfamiliar Hyuga, whose hand had grasped hers and Hinata could only stare at him dumbfounded.

"Erm... er..." she got out, hesitatingly so. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him with an uncertain expression.

She quickly looked around to see if anyone was seeing what was happening but all eyes were transfixed on the dancers, not noticing her plight. When she looked back however, she was happy that nobody had noticed her situation. The hand holding hers had morphed into a different familiar shape as had the man in front of her. He no longer had long, dark hair and instead, a moss of ruby red locks curled around his ears. His skin had gone from peachy to tanned brown and his eyes were not of Hyuga heritage anymore but that of acorns blending into a deep maroon hue. The hand holding hers had now a slightly skeletal shape and a rough texture. It felt as if it'd been ages since she last saw him.

"Sasori!" she exclaimed, her voice high-pitched and girly.

The rhapsodic child threw her arms around his neck, laughing in mirth. He didn't seem to mind her affections and held her firmly against his solid chest. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and the Hyuga's clear eyes shot open wide. "B-but what if someone sees you?"

She leaned back and looked at his collected face.

"They can't doll." His familiar tune spun webs of assurance around her raising mind.

She cocked her head and he leaned in closer, if it was even possible. "Invisibility jutsus," he whispers out, a mysterious charm about him as he raised a singular auburn eyebrow.

She gasped lowly in wonder, drawn in like a fish on a hook. "Will you t-teach me someday?"

His eyes glistened in the sapphire light and oddly enough they reminded Hinata of small treasures. "Someday, yes," he responded easily.

Sasori stood up with the girl in his arms and then began walking up the small steps. She had wanted to stay and watch the dancers but decided to stay quiet. She had missed him, almost too much. She didn't think three whole weeks would go by after all... Nevertheless she was happy that he had returned to her. Closing her eyes, Hinata stuffed her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling the scent of smoke and wood.

"W-where were you?" she tried not to sound so accusing.

A smile creeped its way unto his face.

"I've been busy. Have you missed me?" his voice seemed to tease her slightly and Hinata was happy he could not see her face, she was red like a tomato.

"Maybe just a little," she murmured out, her meek tone muffled by his red ringlets.

"Well I'm here now doll." He patted her back in a comforting manner.

It was nice being carried about since most would say that she was too old for that. The only one being carried around was Hanabi and she was after all a baby. Hinata would savour this moment while she still had it. Hinata had to give Sasori guidelines around the Hyuga compound. Eventually they finally came upon the main family's household and it was quite obvious that the invisibility jutsu was still intact when they came upon Reiko, walking calmly in their opposite direction. She must be on her way to pick up the heiress, not knowing someone had already picked her up and was currently carrying around her like a priced gift.

Back in her room, he made a small movement with his left hand, telling her that only she was visible at the moment. Her bedroom was lit up in a calming yellow light, shadows dancing on the walls as if they were alive. Hinata had wanted to ask Sasori something, an idea she had thought up on their way through the Hyuga halls. As he put her down on her bed, she finally managed to muster up the courage she needed.

"S-Sasori-san... could you teach me about weapons?" She bit her lip, unsure.

He blinked at her. "Why?" he asked her with a glint in his eye.

"Well... I want a headstart..." She swallowed thickly. "I don't want to be a disappointment to my father."

The girl carefully watched for a change in his neutral face and she sighed in relief when he smirked at her, a hand reaching out and caressing her black locks.

"Of course I will, I'm happy that you are so eager to learn, Hinata," his tuneful voice engulfed her in secure warmth. "I can train you in the future, if you wish it."

Her petite lips broke into a pearly smile, her glee was practically tangible. Impulsively, she jumped up, bouncing off her bed and throwing her arms around his neck. He froze for a second before his arms and hands sneaked around her young frame. A giggle bubbled up in her throat, Hinata had never felt so lucky as she did in that moment. Suddenly he let her go, promptly pushing her down on the bed. She didn't have time to react as he threw the duvet over her, but not before making a 'hush hush' gesture, bronze eyes holding hers. Then he turned around to the door as Reiko stormed in, a frantic look in her eyes. She seemed to calm down when she saw Hinata, sitting alone on the bed. Her white eyes passed right through the puppeteer as if he were nothing but empty air.

"Little lady! Why did you not wait for me? I was worried something had happened to you, you know," she said disapprovingly, walking with resolute steps over to her bedside.

Her face was set in deep frown. Reiko stood a mere foot away from the seated redhead who merely watched with only minor interest. "I-I'm sorry... I was just tired, Reiko-san." Her eyes flickered over to Sasori's invisible form before returning to the maid.

Reiko heaved a sigh, she seemed to forgive her. "Well don't do it again... I will have to report to your Mother of your disobedience in the morning."

She bent down, picking up a discarded pillow and settling it behind Hinata's head. "Okey..." she murmured out, leaning back into the snowy cotton.

"Do you want some warm milk and honey before bed?" The older lady, smiled down at her, her gaze softening.

Reiko had always been the forgiving type. Hinata wanted to say yes but she shook her head, addressing that she was really tired. Reiko furrowed her brows for a second before nodding promptly. "Well then. Wash yourself before bed, little lady."

And thus, the maid called Reiko left the heiress's chambers but not without one last odd look at the child. With the thud of the door and the fading footsteps, Hinata let out a sigh.

**...**

The steel shone in the dim light her lamp provided. A collection of lethal shinobi weapons, well-cleaned with sharp edges, glimmered back at her. Sasori had picked out a few weapons, spreading them out on her blanket and Hinata inspected them with wide eyes. These were quite different from her fellow clansmen's. They looked rougher and sharper and purer. Like they were well cared for, cleaned and sharpened.

"You can touch them if you want to but don't cut yourself. Can you name them?" Sasori's voice woke her up from her observations and Hinata quickly nodded.

"Erm... m-my father told me their names but I don't know much more than that..." Hinata stuttered out, biting her lip. She didn't want to disappoint Sasori.

"Those are kunais and those are shurikens... b-but I don't know these ones yet..." She pointed at the respective weapons, her gaze finally landing on the long, thin, metallic sticks.

Sasori cracked a smile. "These are senbons, one of my favourites." He picked up the long needle-like stick and handed it over to her. "Don't stick your finger now, that would be troublesome." His lips stretched into a grin.

"Why?" Her eyes blinked up at him, innocent, clueless.

She held the senbon in her slim fingers, her nails carefully scratching on the weightless steel. He reached out and turned it over to show her what looked like a small cap.

"This is a hatch that can be opened and closed with just screwdriver, unless it has sealing jutsus imprinted on it. See here." He reached into a his bag, hanging by his hip and pulled out the tool whilst simultaneously doing a series of quick hand signs with his left hand. "I always tend to carry one with me, incase I need to do some adjustments with the senbons. Look closely, doll."

With the tip of the screwdriver, he turned around the hatch and it clicked open to reveal a rectangle-like opening. She couldn't quite see what was inside but it was green and it looked quite squashy. She looked up at him with a questionable look, her brows furrowed.

"This is the reason why you should watch out from the edge. Inside the senbon, there is this sponge-like device. The green pumped into it is poison and once the tip of the senbon is injected into something, the sponge will be drained of poison and it will be delivered into the pierced object in mere mili seconds."

He observed her reaction with a guarded look, he didn't want to scare her and taking away all the progress. Hinata didn't look that scared though but she was cautious, that much was obvious. Slowly, carefully she poked the senbon like it was a dangerous animal.

"N-No one in my clan uses poisons like that, at least not that I know of..." she responded with a tad bit uncertain frown. "I...I don't think it's the Hyuga way, my f-father has always referred to poisons as cheap t-tricks..."

He busied himself with putting the senbon back together. "Well, wouldn't it be something special to be the only Hyuga using poisons then?" He twirled the closed off senbon between his fingers. "You cannot live by your father's way forever, the sooner you'll find your own will, your own path, the more extraordinary of a ninja you will become."

Hinatas cheeks turned pink as she took his words in. They were like jewels and gems, something precious and valuable. She wanted to live by them, to be that extraordinary ninja someday.

"I could prove everyone wrong..." the words escaped her and she didn't even stutter, she didn't even sound so unsure.

Was this really her? She blinked from surprise when Sasori put his hands on her waist and lifted her up. She trusted him though and did not say much as he put her down between his legs. Hinata felt for the first time like a real princess.

"You can," he uttered in her ears, his fingers gathered up her short hair and twirling them into a bun. "And you will, doll."

She felt something slide into the bun, holding her hair in place and she could see in the mirror, that maybe she could be just as pretty as the fan dancers one day. It was the senbon that sat nestled in her dark strands. Hinata became nervous for a small second but it flew away as nothing bad happened.

"C-could you teach me how to fan dance as well?"

He was silent and then she heard a chuckle, something that reminded her of a solar eclipse, the ones she'd seen in the library books. Light and dark at the same time, a carefree thing. It was something rare and unique, she just knew it.

**...**

The next hour went by quickly, time flies when you're having fun. They went over how the senbon worked, he demonstrated how to use the poison filled needle and what to look out for. In the end, she got to put together one herself. It was tricky and her fingers trembled the whole time but in the end, she'd done her first senbon and the wide smile on Sasori's lean lips filled her with warmth. His red hair spilled into that fascinating maroon colour, just like his shadowed eyes.

As the night darkened into the late hours, Hinata could feel the need for sleep in her bones. As such, Sasori who seemed to know everything, started to gather up the shiny instruments as she tucked herself into bed. She suddenly blinked in surprise when he turned off the lights. She could make out his figure moving around as he once again sat down on her bed. She was about to ask him why when she stopped short at seeing his hands glow in a bright red colour. It lit up the whole bed as it danced right above his skin, like fire.

"W-what's that?" Hinata had whispered out in awe.

"Chakra, it can work somewhat like a lantern sometimes. In time, you will be able to channel your own chakra this way as well, he said simply, his smile glowing in the dark.

He then dug into his bag and produced something small in the palm of his glowing, crimson hand. It was that weed, the one that tasted like cotton candy and honey. It laid curled around in a half circle in the red light.

"Eat up, doll."

Hinata didn't need to be told twice and she greedily scooped it up and chewed it down. That sweet, sweet taste engulfed her taste buds again and she felt a cloudy warmth spread throughout her limbs. Later as she fell asleep, she could only giggle at Sasori, though he didn't do much else than to bid her goodnight. She sunk down into her bed and he left her there, sleeping soundly with the small Senbon still tied up in her hair. When she woke again, the senbon had untangled itself, laying hidden amongst the blankets.

The days went by, turning into two whole weeks before Sasori visited again. He kept teaching her of weapons and how to use them, of chakra and elements, drilling the knowledge into her skull. She would read the scrolls he brought to her and later rehearse it by herself before he returned to test her knowledge. She hid the texts in a cupboard under the floorboards beneath her bed. She had been particularly proud when she showed Sasori the hiding spot. Amongst the other subjects, poisons seemed to be his favourite topic since he always seemed so engrossed in it. Hinata made it her mission to excel at everything but she was going to put in an extra effort into the deadly substances. It would make him more than proud, she was sure of it.

Now three whole weeks had gone by since she last saw him and she had reread the scrolls over and over. She could rehearse them almost fluently now and her reading skills had improved tremendously as well. She grew with the knowledge, the secret knowledge her parents couldn't know about. Hinata went through her days with a smile on her face. Whenever she met up for play dates with Haruko she made sure to not care as much about her bragging, in fact she fired back with knowledge of her own. She told of the different elements, what kind of jutsus one could make with them and the functions of poisonous senbons. Haruko had stared at with an irritated expression, her frown sat deeply etched into her freckled face.

"How do you know all that?" she asked almost accusingly and Hinata was reminded that her ninja lessons were actually supposed to be a secret.

"Well we have a big library at home so I've just been looking around..." she responded flatly, biting her lip.

Hinata wasn't dumb, she knew how unbelievable that was seeing as both her and Haruko had been in that library before and they could hardly pronounciate the complex words and sentences. Most children learn to read and write in the academy but her clan had provided her with a private tutor of literature before that, as such she got a head start. The stern tutor had drilled her for months and months until her performance was acceptable. Still, it was hard to understand the books and scrolls of the great Hyuga library. Sasori must have known this and that's probably why he picked out rather easy writings for her to go over.

"You're not that good at reading, Hinata." Haruko seemed to mildly mock her but it still ticked her off.

A pause stretched between them and only the birds in the trees could be heard. They were both seated in the garden with the red door at their backs, separating them from the green forest, only ever used by her kin.

"Yes I am..." was all she got out, averting her eyes to the porcelain doll at her knees.

It was a pretty thing, golden haired with a blue dress and a red cloak. In her cupped white hand, she held a basket, its contents covered up with a white blanket. The basked was made of stone but the rest of the doll was of pure porcelain, well except for her hair. She was supposed to be little red riding hood from the age-old fairytale but she had named her Yumi. Her mother had brought it for her at her third birthday but Hinata hadn't been allowed to touch it until she was old enough to be trusted to not break it. Haruko didn't say much after that and they sat in a rather short silence before she spoke again.

"I think you're lying!" Haruko snapped at her, her cheeks flaming red.

She had a very short patience and was often quick to jump to conclusions. Though, Hinata knew that she was right, she still wouldn't budge from her standpoint. In fact, the young heiress was a bit bitter over her friend's dismissal of her potential reading capabilities.

"No, I'm not!"

"You're not even a real ninja yet, how can you know so much of things we haven't even touched in school yet!" Her mandarin coloured hair flew around as wildly as her temper in the passing breeze.

Hinata bit her cheek as tears started to build up behind her opal eyes, tears of anger it seemed. They didn't fall.

"My f-father has been teaching me s-some things, that's normal for a n-noble clan!" Haruko's green eyes seemed to narrow into thin almonds at that.

"So you did lie then? I knew you were! Do you think that you're better than me or something, just because I don't come from an high and mighty clan! Is that it?!" she spat out, the doll she had in her hands laid thrown on the grass beside her, long forgotten.

Hinata shrunk away from her as she suddenly stood up with a huff.

"Well I'm happy I'm not like you anyway, with your fancy dresses and nice dolls, you're just like everyone else... only a tad bit inbred from being born in this rich dump!" Haruko exclaimed, heated in her anger and as she left through the red door, she mindlessly kicked her doll aside.

It hadn't really been her doll at all, since the redhead didn't own any dolls. It had been one of Hinata's, not made of porcelain but of plastic. It was still very pretty, the doll face had been hand painted and she'd worn a white wedding gown complete with brown locks and a long white headdress. Now it laid caked in dirt but Hinata could only stare at the red door. The sound of Haruko's fading footsteps went hardly unnoticed as they disappeared into the wilderness. Why...? Why was she so angry with her. She started to regret the whole thing now, the whole damn lie. She had lied and that must be the reason for her outrage. Haruko was her only friend and she deserved the truth. Her only friend had just walked out on her and the things she'd said was still fresh in her ears. Hinata tasted salt on her lips and now she didn't even try to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hey there people, so i wanted to let you all know that this story is by no means abandoned. I just read through all of your lovely reviews and honestly, it gladdens me to death with all the positive feedback! I hope i can live up to your standards and please, don't hesitate to ask me anything! Constructive critism is always welcomed and very much needed. I don't think i need to clarify which POV i'm writing from, as the lovely guest recommended. This story will probably be a slow-burn and i want to stay as true to the characters as possible, while still leaving room for some development. Forgive me if updates are slow, i have lot on my plate, partly by my own fault. Anyways happy reading!  
**

**Chapter 7  
**

The forest behind the little red door, wasn't as big as the one surrounding and shrouding Konoha, but it wasn't exactly small either. At the edge of said forest, one could usually find a couple of ladders used by the branch family when they picked fruit. Haruko knew of those ladders and usually used them to climb up and over the wall that separated the Hyuga compound from the rest of the village. No doubt, the redhead was already far away by this point. Hinata sat alone and waited for her tears to stop, waited for them to dry up and disappear. It didn't go as fast as she would hope and her chest ached in a sharp pain as she tried to stifle her crying. She felt ashamed for all the lies she had spun, she didn't even want to show her face to anyone else at that moment. She didn't want any eyes on her and thus, she stood up.

Leaving behind her little doll, she slipped through the red door and disappeared into the forest. She would find some place to cry alone, somewhere where she couldn't be seen by others. The forest stood in full bloom during this time of year, exploding and flourishing in life. It was as green as anything could be and twice as healthy. The trees were littered with fresh fruits, ranging from red and green apples to mandarins, cherries and peas. Of course the cherry trees wouldn't be as green as their surroundings but a shade of pale pink instead. The bushes too stood filled with their own goods of berries, blueberries, raspberries and even strawberry plants grew about the scenery. With the beaming sunlight to add, it all shone up in a serene beauty. Harmonious in its nature, but still, the weeping child failed to take note of its splendour.

Oh no, Hinata was too busy with her tear-shedding to really notice anything. She wandered deep into the forest, passing by tree by tree, root by root. Occasionally wiping away her tears with the all too big sleeves of her red Kimono. This kimono -with its tight, white waistband- wasn't made for walking so she eventually slid down the rough side of a sturdy tree trunk. Someone had forgotten a basket of apples by her side, shiny red ones, just like her dress. Sniffling softly, she let her eyes wander and came across a bush filled with red Camellia flowers. Her fingers ached to be doing something, to keep the mind busy and distracted. So, she picked up a pair of wild straws by her side. She went over to the Camellia bush and started plucking the flowers to prepare a flower crown. She often did those when she didn't know what else to do.

Hinata allowed the calm breeze to grow chilly on her damp cheeks, wet from her sobbing. It was now that she started to really think over what had happened. Why had Haruko suddenly become so angry? Did she think Hinata was trying to prove something? What even is inbred? All the questions had her head spinning, she was more confused than anything else at the moment. She knew she had to make it up to Haruko some time, she couldn't imagine them not being friends after this. What was she going to do without her? Something told her that Sasori wasn't the kind of person to play hide and seek with or even have tee parties with...

She really did miss her odd friend and briefly wondered when she was going to meet him again... whenever she would ask, he would just say something like "soon enough". It didn't tell her much. However, the average wait-time had always been around two weeks so he's just around one week late now. Her small fingers threaded and twisted the flowers around the collection of straws and twigs, her flower crown was coming along nicely now. The only sound around her came from the rustling of the wind and the chirps of the birds.

All of sudden, a third noise reached her ears. It started low and distant but in mere seconds, it seemed to come closer. Twigs snapped, bushes and leaves rustled, bit by bit, from left to right. It was as if someone was circling her. Hinata became more and more nervous as she searched her surroundings. There looked to be nothing here, no matter how hard she stared at the greenery around her, not one detail were out of of place. The noises came closer and closer and her head snapped around in confused alarm as she scanned her right side. Sweating slightly, she clutched her flower crown, almost bracing herself.

Without thinking about it, she actively tried to activate her byakugan. She usually did it on accident from time to time but if she wanted to activate it on will, she would have to concentrate. Breathing heavily, she focused intently on her sight as her gaze zeroed in on a random pair of branches. The noises had died down for now as they seemingly moved slightly away. Suddenly, a semi-familiar heaviness engulfed her frontal as she flexed a bit of her chakra. Ever so slowly, thick muscular veins began to take shape around her opal eyes, rising up from the skin like the small roots of a tree. Her vision switched and became rather widened as it completely morphed into a more rounded sight, reaching far behind her head.

She focused on the front view though as she could make out the shape of a person standing slightly behind a large orange tree, just a few meters away. She easily saw through the trees and leaves and branches, making out the hidden scenery behind them. She recognised the red hair and the tanned skin, instantaneously, she knew who it was. All tension left her and instantly got replaced by excitement.

"Sasori!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet and clutching her almost-done flower crown.

A single hand moved away a pair of leaf-littered branches as he stepped fully into view. Her byakugan took in his little details and lean features in only a matter of mili seconds, every impression at the same time. He looked the same. Light brown flak jacket, bandaged arms with fingerless black gloves and his usual scrolls and weapons. Only this time, he wore a pair of dark green trousers. A light headache began to form as she wasn't exactly used to using her bloodline limit, with a sigh, she deactivated the byakugan, letting the roots fall away.

Smiling widely, she skimmed past the high grass and jumped at him. He met her halfway, bending down to her height and catching her in his outstretched arms.

"Hi there doll," he mumbled out above her head as he picked her up, one of her sandals loosened up and promptly fell off her swinging foot.

How strange of him to seemingly appear just as she thought of him. Her head (which had been stuffed in the crook of his neck), re-emerged quickly as she bombarded him with all matter of questions. How was he? Where had he been? What had he done? Her words seemed to trip over each other and her stuttering and stammering was at an all time-high.

"Shh, calm down and breathe in between the sentences Hinata," the puppet master responded with a raised brow, scratching the child's head.

Peering down on her, he met her big eyes and assessed the evidence that she'd recently been crying. Carrying her back to her spot at the apple tree, he deeply studied her pale eyes. The byakugan had looked stunning on her. The contorted veins had seemed rather otherworldly on her and it had reminded him of a small cat for some unrelated reason.

"What's there to cry about now?" He asked, ignoring her previous questions.

She looked away in what he presumed to be shame. Once again, she stuffed her head back into the crook of his neck and stayed silent as he sat down by the tree.

"I-I know I'm not supposed to cry..." she eventually stuttered out, sliding down his chest and playing with her flower crown.

"Yet you still do, tell me why," he prodded, a bit disturbed.

Had another branch member said something they shouldn't have? Had her father done something? He didn't know but he could guess.

"Haruko doesn't want to be my friend anymore and I d-don't know what to-to do about it...," Hinata forced out, having difficulties articulating the whole ordeal. Sasori listened with half an ear. Aha. So that's how it is.

"She's not much of a friend then. Do you know why this happened?" He asked with a stable calm tone, intertwining his fingers in her charcoal strands.

She bit her lip, "I-I think she became angry with me because I knew m-more than h-her..."

"On certain shinobi matters, yes?" He questioned. She nodded, briefly looking up at him, his eyebrow ticked.

"That's good, it means that you're learning something. You should never be ashamed of your own progress Hinata. Some people just won't get on with you no matter what you do and you can't please everyone. Obviously the more you grow, the more trouble you will run into," Sasori stated in a curt tone as he lifted her up and put her down in between his long outstretched legs.

"B-but that sounds t-terrible... Haruko is my o-only friend aside from you," she said, her face twisting into something quite forlorn.

"Once you've entered the Academy, you will most likely make new ones and I will make sure to visit whenever I can, doll," was all he said as he took ahold of his bag.

Reaching inside the brown satchel, he pulled out something long and wide, rectangular in its shape. It was a dark wooden box, almost black in its colour. It had a simple golden-bronze lock and looked to be smooth to the touch.

"What's that? Hinata asked as butterflies started to rise in her belly. Was it meant for her?

"This my doll, is your reward for perfectly reciting the last scroll I left you with." His lean lips broke into a toothy smile as his eyes narrowed in interest.

"T-the one about chakra?" She blurted out.

He nodded as he put down the box between them. That last scroll had been quite tasking to learn from. It had been heavy with information and very detailed. Hinata realised with a sunken feeling that she couldn't remember exactly everything in its precise detail but she knew she had to try. At the very least, she knew she wasn't far off the mark.

"As to get you going, where did chakra first come from?" Sasori asked rather patiently as he motioned her to turn around.

Hinata did as she was instructed, sitting down on her knees as he began threading senbons through her hair. It was a habit of his. He would take her black locks, curl them into a ball and secure them with the poisonous weapons. Then he would simply take out the senbons again and begin anew, all whilst listening to her rambling. It was almost like a ritual. She didn't know how to start of her rambling today though... Nowhere in the scrolls had there ever been a mention of where chakra had originated from... Had she missed it? She must have, mustn't she? A thick lump began to take shape in her throat, she concentrated with all her might but even so, she came up empty handed. She didn't know the answer to this one.

"Um... I-I don't know... sorry," she hesitatingly murmured out as she turned around, blinking up at him.

His expression indicated that of no surprise as well as no disappointment. Instead, his big hand grazed her cheek as he turned her face back around and continued to work on her hair.

"I expected as much, don't worry Hinata. I know it wasn't in the scroll I left you with. Either way, the story of chakra is a rather interesting one, wouldn't you like to hear it?" He smoothly asked as the tip of a senbon lightly scraped her neck.

It tickled and she did her best to stay still and silent. The thought of a story always sat well with her.

"Yes please!" She rushed out, smiling from ear to ear.

"Alright then," he said as his arms closed in around her as he dragged her backwards and pressed her up against his chest. "Once upon a time, when I was around your age, I used to have this old book of fairytales and legends. A thick and monstrously big thing, much too heavy for me to even carry around properly. Among the many tales written down in its pages, were the legend of how chakra as we know it today, came about." His words became hushed as his voice grew darker.

Hinata didn't even want to breathe too loud, afraid that she would miss something of crucial importance. She listened intently, her flower crown laying off to the side, long forgotten.

"According to legend, all chakra stems from the divine tree. The divine tree was great thing, an enormous wonder that reached far above the clouds. Its tree-trunk were wide and sturdy and its crown were filled with greenery and life. The people of the world worshipped the divine tree and it was strictly forbidden to do it any harm. Although, the divine tree couldn't hinder mankind from doing as they always did, mainly following their instincts. Clan waged war against clan, sometimes they fought over the tree itself and sometimes not. Endless wars raged over the continent, never ending in its circle of vengeance. Once every thousand years, the divine tree would bear a rare fruit. It was strictly forbidden for anyone of any clan to touch the fruit, as it was a sacred part of tree. Despite this, the fruit was indeed plucked one day, by a beautiful princess."

Hinata hanged onto every word, leaning back against his chest which seemed to vibrate with each and every word.

"Apparently, the princess went as far as to eat the fruit in order to achieve victory on the battlefield. The forbidden fruit gave the princess the power that we today call chakra, she became the very first person to ever posses it. Anyone who ate the fruit did. The princess's children inherited the chakra and they became the very first shinobis." After a pause, in which only the woodland sounds could be heard, she realised that the story was over.

"W-what happened to the divine tree?" she asked in hurry, turning around and meeting his gaze.

"I'm not sure, maybe no one knows," Sasori said as he twirled her hair around the senbon.

"Do you... do you think it's true?" Hinata asked as she -without really thinking of it- reached up and traced her finger against the tip of the poisonous needle.

Sasori immediately took away her hand, holding it in sturdy grasp. He gave her his usual stern look as he often had to remind her not to challenge fate and prick her finger.

"I don't know, I haven't seen any massive trees around lately... but who knows," he ended the sentence with a quirk of his lips, as if to only humour her but she wouldn't know that. "Now," he suddenly said with an air of finality. "Let's get down to business, tell me how chakra works, doll."

Hinata quickly nodded, eager to show off her knowledge. She cleared her throat as recollections dawned on her, the memorised mantra she had taught herself. A near precise copy of what she had read in that scroll.

"C-chakra is known as some sort of life energy that exists within all living things to some degree, if a person runs out of their chakra they will d-die..." she explained as simply as she could.

He nodded for her to continue.

"Well... there are currently five different chakra natures and they can de-described as the basic foundations of all nin-jutsus. The different types are fire, water, wind, earth and lightning. Applying one of these natures to a p-persons chakra will change the properties of their chakra... Doing so is referred to as a nature transformation. By applying a nature transformation and shape transformation, which changes t-the chakras form, a p-person can perform one of the many ele-elemental nin-jutsus," she finished, finally able to breathe again.

Sasori looked pleased as he once again, took out the senbon in her hair to comb through her black strands with its lethal tip. "Go on, Hinata. I know you know more than that," he said, prodding her to continue. She did as she was told.

"Each of the chakra natures have different relationships to each other. Each of the five natures are strong against one and weak against another. Fire is strong against wind, wind is strong against lightning, lightning is strong against earth, earth is strong against water and water is strong against fire. These advantages and d-disadvantages will determine how certain nin-jutsus will react towards each other. E-every shinobi will have an affinity towards at least one of these natures, l-like how the uchiha clan have an affinity towards fire. But there are e-exceptions of course. Generally it s-seems to be up to genetics and... other times I-it's just a case by case thing. These natural affinities will make it easer for someone to learn the nin-jutsus of their own specific affinity, a ninja with a fire affinity will easily learn fire jutsus and such. It-it's very rare and very difficult for a person learn and master all five elemental natures."

She took a deep breath before continuing, Sasori's eyes never strayed from her delicate head, although she couldn't see that as he sat looming behind her.

"A person can unlock special nature transformations by combining the five elemental natures. Water and wind will unlock ice release, water and earth will create wood release, lava release is created by pairing up fire and earth, storm release is created by water and lightning, dust release is created by fire, earth and wind, e-explosion release is created by earth and lightning, scorch release comes from wind and fire and magnet release is created by wind and earth. The final two nature transformation are called ying release and yang release... I find it hard to understand those but from what I know, t-they serve as the f-foundation for all nature transformations. An example on techniques from ying and yang release can be the medical nin-jutsus." Hinata paused as she was once again out of breath.

She would have to remember to breathe more often as she was talking. But still, she felt like she had to hurry up in case she would forget it all, to get it out whilst it was still in her head. She turned around, senbon in her hair as she looked up at her friend with an expectant gleam in her white eye.

"Very good Hinata, very good indeed. You barely stuttered at all this time, maybe it has started to wear off."

"Maybe... but my dad says it m-may never go away..." she chirped out.

"You shouldn't listen to what your father says," Sasori answered, his lips held in a tight, thin line. She couldn't believe he'd just said that.

"W-what? but I have to!"

"Well, maybe at this age, but once you get older, you will have to think for yourself," he stated in factual manner.

She didn't know what to say to that so she just bowed her head and inspected the mossy ground, biting her lip.

"Either way, do you have any questions regarding what you've read about chakra?" Sasori continued, taking the senbon out of her hair.

"Y-yeah, I do..." she suddenly said as a thought crossed her mind.

"Fire away, doll," he said.

She took a breath, "Well I w-was wondering which kind of nature transformations y-you can do?" She sat in silence as she awaited his answer, curiously looking up at him.

A single beam of sunlight sprung forth from the leaves above, causing his red hair to almost look like molten lava.

"I have mastered fire, earth and wind, although I seem to have an affinity towards earth. I don't use them too often though since I mainly work with puppets," was his answer as he quirked his head to the side, making the dancing sun beams in his hair catch the hazel of his eye.

All of sudden, he made some quick, complicated-looking movements with his hands, a flurry of motions she had a hard time comprehending. Suddenly two small fires sprung forth from his opened hands. They made a roaring noise as the orange flames seemed to just hover above the flats of his gloved hands, magnificent and bright.

"Oooh..." she breathed out, staring at the dancing flames.

Suddenly they seemed to move on their own, twisting and contorting into odd shapes, random burning numbers and even kanji symbols. Since his hands were on either side of her head, she had to move away a bit to see them more clearly. But also to escape to uncomfortable warmth that skimmed her ears and made crackling noises, causing microscopic embers to fly off into her hair. The flames moved as if they were alive, coiling around like snakes.

"Fire can easily be manipulated this way by applying a wind transformation, you will be able to do this as well someday," he said, grinning at her childish awe.

"D-doesn't it hurt?" she asked, her eyes wide like dinner plates as she couldn't take her sight off the morphing flames before her.

"No of course not," Sasori stated in an eerie calm manner as he dismissed the flames, watching them evaporate into thin air.

She blinked stupidly as the shiny things disappeared. Crawling back to her place, she felt like she had to ask him about his puppets. She didn't know much at all of the subject and this was strangely the very first time he'd even mentioned it to her. The next half an hour or so was spent with him trying to explain the concept of chakra threads and puppet jutsus to her. It went as well as it reasonably could have and she understood as much as five year could manage. She had to stop him sometimes though, to explain certain words she hadn't heard before. The more he fleshed out the concept of controlling puppets, the more alluring it became.

"Will you t-teach me that too someday?" she questioned as he finished, a hopeful smile coating her lips.

"Yes, I intend for you to become as skilled as myself one day, or at least somewhat near it," he said back, his eyes narrowing as he tried to avoid the sun beam that had now moved to shine right across his tanned face.

She was about to say something more when he interrupted her rushing thoughts. "Hinata."

She blinked in confusion at his sudden switch in demeanour, all of sudden his tone became serious, as serious as his face.

"Y-es" she meekly got out, as she couldn't seem to look away from his alert eyes.

"Tell me... does the byakugan give you some sort of photographic memory?"

Her eyebrows seemed to crease themselves into a knot, "What's that?" she asked slowly.

"Well, when you rehearsed to me about chakra just before, were you using your own words or the words in the scroll?" He patiently rephrased the question.

"I was using the w-words from the scroll, I had it m-m-memorised so that I would say everything in the c-correct order," she slowly explained.

"Were you imagining the scroll inside your head then? Seeing the sentences from a memory perhaps?," he prodded in a calm tone as he peered down at her, almost knowingly.

Hinata was taken aback as she suddenly realised that he was right, she always did that with most of the things she had to repeat or learn. It was like a second nature to the child, she had never thought of it before. She suddenly grew worried.

"Y-yes b-but is that something bad...?" She stammered out in a hesitant manner, worried that she had somehow cheated.

Sasori raised his eyebrows at her in amusement. His lean lips cleaved themselves into a lopsided little smirk.

"Oh no, doll," he said with barely disguised laugher in his voice, the little child didn't pick up on that though. "That's a great thing, it means that you will have it easier than most students when you finally enter the academy. It's a rarity," he continued as he removed the senbon from her hair and twirled it around in his fingers. She had forgotten it was there.

"W-why do I have t-then?" Hinata asked, a bit bewildered.

"I was wondering about that too, I knew you had to have something since you've always been so good at rehearsing the scrolls I've left you with. I think it may have something to do with your bloodline limit," he rambled on, as he went to pick her up.

She made no resistance as he plucked her from the ground like a flower, crossed his legs and went to put her down on one of his thighs.

"M-maybe I can ask mother about it...?" She tentatively asked, searching his eyes.

"Yes, do that but don't tell her I asked... you still haven't told anyone about me right?" His eyes became a tad bit stern as she met them.

"N-no way!" she blurted out, she would never break her promise.

"There's a good girl," he smiled at her and went to pick up the wooden box by his side.

She'd forgotten all about her present and a rush of excitement sprang through her veins, her face gleefully lightened up with mirth.

"And I only reward good girls, here you go doll," Sasori continued as he pressed the box into her small hands.

She didn't know if she was allowed to open it yet... the wood looked so new and so shiny, as if it was made of glass instead. She almost forgot to say thank you but caught herself in time.

"T-thank you, Sasori-san!" she happily exclaimed as she threw her thin arms around his neck in a little hug.

"Yes, Yes... Open it," he murmured into in her hair, almost impatiently but she took no note of it.

Sliding open the bronze hatch, she carefully opened the box. Inside it was something wrapped up in course brown paper. Biting her cheek, she removed the paper and came upon a wooden peg doll. It was simple in its beauty but incredibly detailed as well. It looked so professional. The doll felt impossibly smooth in her hands, even more so than the box. The wood was in light brown colour, almost a pale beige. It looked like a geisha. Short, black hair, white kimono, big eyes and red lips. The doll's eyes were the eyes of a Hyuga, big opal, pallid blue, framed with black eyelashes.

"Who is it?" Sasori asked her, whispering behind her ear as he looked over her shoulder.

"Me?" she said, unsure but rather sure at the same time.

"Correct," he answered.

Hinata couldn't help the wide grin that spread over her little face like wildfire. She turned around with her beloved doll in her hand and threw her arms around his neck again. She couldn't believe that he'd actually made a doll out of her.

"Look here," Sasori suddenly said as he effortlessly took her arms off his neck.

Without a glance at her, he took the doll from her hands and turned it over, upside down. The under side of the doll had a some sort of label on it. A white sticker with a red scorpion on it. On the lower side of the doll, there was a small button, barely visible to the naked eye. He pressed it lightly and the underside of the doll slid open without as much as a noise. Inside the doll, Hinata could see the tips of a myriad of senbons. He tipped the doll to the side and took out a few of them. They were metallic and shiny, tied together with small red strings.

"I haven't infused these with poison yet, I figured you and I could do it together," he explained.

"Are those for me then?" she hesitatingly asked.

"Yes of course, it's a good way to keep track on your senbons," he answered as he started to carefully put the senbons back into the doll.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The recurring visits of Sasori, spanned on from year to year. Sometimes he visited every three weeks, sometimes less and sometimes more. As she grew older and entered the Academy, she dearly wanted to show off her knowledge as she soon discovered that she laid ahead in almost every study field. One could partly thank her photographic memory for that, but she wouldn't have gotten far without Sasori either way. She had asked her mother about the photographic memory and sure thing, it was an exclusive privilege belonging to people of their bloodline.

However, even if she wanted to raise her hand in class and answer each question correctly, she was still way too shy and that social shyness felt limitless at times. It prevented her from getting friends, something she realised Haruko had succeeded greatly in, compared to her. The two of them hadn't spent much time together after their childish breakup. Whenever they ran into each other, Haruko did her best to avoid her. Avoid her like the plague. If that didn't work, she would just ignore as if Hinata was nothing but bad air. The utter discomfort of it all, brought tears to her eyes, although she held them back every time.

Hinata learned to accept it, after all, she was used to not having friends. At least she had some acquaintances... Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino was in her class and they were the only ones who ever really spoke to her, so far. They mostly hung out with each other though but at least they weren't mean. The same couldn't be said for some of the boys in her class. They constantly remarked her appearance and made fun of her eyes. It all didn't matter though, compared to the bigger things in her life.

Bigger things she may have taken for granted, bigger things to be sad over. She had just turned 7 when her mother died, like a cruel birthday present. Her illness had worsened over the last year, to the point where she couldn't leave her bed. Hyuga Hana passed away in her sleep in the middle of a rainy night. A funeral was held for her but Hinata couldn't remember it well at all. She just remembered all of the black umbrellas, the heavy rain and the drenched flowers.

In a way, it felt like she hadn't even been there in the first place... but she knew that was not the case. In the corner of her wardrobe, her black kimono still laid crumpled up and wrinkled from drying in such an odd position. But still, she couldn't remember the days leading up the funeral or even the days after it. It was just a blank slate.

Hinata had never known such sadness before, the kind of sadness that left her empty, numb. Torn up and scattered to the wind. She was unprepared for the confusion, the longing. A big, heavy part of her couldn't understand how a person could just... seize to exist. Her father wouldn't speak about her mother and he would hardly speak to her. He only said she died painlessly from her sickness. Died. She was dead.

Hinata and Hanabi were left to the servants. Reiko-san played a huge role in comforting them, holding them through their tears. Still Hinata had never felt more alone. She hadn't even said goodbye to her mother yet, she hadn't even told her mother about Sasori yet. Even if she knew she wasn't supposed to tell anyone about him, it didn't feel right to keep such a secret from her mother.

Especially now, when her mother wasn't even around to hear the truth. Around to hear the good news, that she had a marvelous teacher. She wasn't around to be proud of her, to be happy for her.

It had been a week after the funeral but time felt as unreal as it probably was. She wasn't progressing, she was only going in circles. When she finally got around to telling Sasori, she couldn't help but to burst into tears. Of course, she knew what he thought of her tears but it was impossible to stop her weeping once it had begun. He didn't comment on it though, he didn't say much of anything. He only held her.

He already knew that her mother was sick and she had barely articulated the sentence before the waterworks took her over. When her tears had dried up and she laid motionless in his embrace, she mustered up the courage to meekly ask him; "Is your m-mom alive?"

She couldn't see his face, seeing as she had stuffed her head into the crook of his neck.

"No, both my parents died when I was your age," he said without as much as a speck of emotion in his voice.

She was too young to find that strange, or even off-putting. She was too young to even detect it. She was sad that it had to be that way. But still, the kinship she felt with him, only grew. Hinata didn't want Sasori to leave her, she only wanted him to comfort her, forever if possible. It was only as she grew older, that she realised that he wasn't cut out for comforting people. Weeks turned into months, months turned into years and in time, she grew taller and a little smarter.

She was 12 and she laid wide awake in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. She was too nervous. Tomorrow, would be her first day as an official Genin. She would meet up with her team and they would (hopefully) complete their first mission. Not only that, but there were already talks of the upcoming chunin exams. Hinata knew she needed to be ready and hone her skills. Her older friend had already taught her much about the usage of poisons, puppets and other weapons.

So far, she could only use two puppets, one of Sasori's own and another that belonged to her. The more taxing one, with way more complications, was obviously his. She only got to use that puppet when he allowed her to. Her own puppet had been a gift from him as well on her 11th birthday. She trained with it almost everyday. It was fairly easy to master and control, once one gets used to the technique. Although this was probably because he had given her an "easy to manage" puppet that was typical for beginners.

It was a spider, made out of wood and metal. A big puppet that reached all the way up to her waist. It was dark in colour, filled to the brim with weapons. The legs could morph and transform into long, sharp blades dipped in poison. It could also shoot kunai's, shuriken's and senbons from all angles. She could even make it fly with the chakra strings. Hinata had named it Hana, after her late mother. Her eyes slowly went over the scroll she had on her bedside desk, the scroll she used in order to summon "Hana". Absentmindedly she let her eyes wander about her room.

Her heart nearly stopped in its tracks as she noticed a silhouette in the far right corner, right by her door. She froze like a prey would and automatically her byakugan was activated. Just as she could make out who it was, the figure moved on its own and stepped out of the shadows. She let out a breath in relief, it was just Sasori. Before long, her byakugan deactivated itself as she reached out and switched on the lights by her bedside table, bathing the bed in a soft, yellow glow.

Hinata knew he had a bad habit of watching her, whether she was sleeping or not. She often found his eyes fixed upon her, it was so obvious sometimes, he didn't even try to hide it. But as she would meet his eyes, rather inquisitive, he would just keep on staring albeit absentmindedly so. It was like he was thinking of something that probably didn't have anything to do with her, all whilst using her as some sort of object to rest his gaze upon.

Hinata wasn't complaining though, but it could be annoying at times. Like now for instance. Something about his eyes rubbed her the wrong way, somehow they reminded her of something rather cold and detached. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he had stayed the same, his appearance had never changed one bit in the years that she'd known him. Sasori never seemed to age and she didn't quite know what to do about that. Maybe he had some sort of super genes? Hinata had asked him about it before but she never really got a straight answer.

"Sasori-" she began as she rose up and threw the blanket to the side.

"Congratulations on you exam, doll," he interrupted her, silently walking over to her side.

She sighed in mild irritation at being interrupted. Her legs broke out in goosebumps as they seemingly missed the comfort of the warm blanket. She was only wearing her nightgown after all. Ignoring the chill that somehow seemed out of place, she stood up to give him a hug. He was always so warm. He hugged her back, short and sweet, like the usual.

"I-I wasn't expecting you in the middle of the night," she said, biting her cheek.

His hand trailed down her arm, before gently grabbing her hand. He picked it up from its place by her side and pressed a bag of something in it.

"I've been busy as of late, but I still wanted to see you before you're sent out on your first mission," his voice dropped down to a low, undetectable sound out as she carefully inspected the object in her hand. "I know it's been awhile, I hope this will somehow make up for my absence."

Her little fingers closed in on the bag, whatever was inside was soft.

"What is it?" she asked, taking a seat on the bed once more.

"Your favourite," he answered, with a rare glimpse of playfulness in his eye.

His lips twisted themselves into a small smirk as he took a seat by her side. Now she was really curious. Without further ado, she quickly opened the bag and turned it upside down. Falling out and right into the palm of her hand, was her favourite weed.

"Nemuri," she said with awe.

It had been quite some time before she'd last eaten it and all of sudden, she was aching all over to consume it once more. It truly was her favourite vegetable and this time, it wasn't just one swirling lump, but four of them. All for her. She knew the drug was illegal in the fire country, Sasori had told her so once some years ago now. He had been very keen on her keeping the weed a secret, and she had no problem with that. She thought the drug laws in Konoha were outdated when it came to Nemuri either way. Sasori had told her that she didn't even use the drug often enough for it to be an actual danger to her brain functions.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, smiling widely as she took in his striking features.

"My pleasure. As you can see, I brought you some extra because I know you might need it the coming days, besides I honestly don't know when I'll be able to see you next time. It might take several weeks," Sasori explained as he picked up the weeds from her hand and put them back in the little brown bag.

He placed the bag on the bed, along with his own satchel, before inspecting her once more. "Have you eaten?"

Hinata wanted to ask him what it was that was more important than visiting her but she kept her mouth shut for that one, she didn't want to appear as needy or prodding.

"No, I wasn't allowed dinner tonight," she responded with an uncomfortable sigh, looking at her feet.

He reacted to that, as she knew he would. She looked up to see his eyebrows drawn together into a frown, his jaw looked tense and sharpened like the edge of a blade. He met her white eyes with his own maroon ones and she was struck with how he almost seemed furious.

"Why not? How many times has it been this week?!" he suddenly hissed out, rising from the bed and stepping around to her front.

"Only two times actually... he saw me training with Hana," Hinata quietly explained, looking at her feet, for some reason she felt ashamed.

"Hana?"

"The puppet," she elaborated.

"Alright. Enlighten me some more, why don't you?" Sasori commanded as he slowly knelt down in front of her and placed his big hands on her knees.

Hinata, gave him a pained look but she knew she had to comply, the way his thumbs dug into her skin indicated that.

"Maybe you already knew about this, but my father has a deep dislike for the usage of both puppets and poisons. So when he saw me training with Hana, he became really angry with me. Of course, we have never really gotten along and that is partly because I seem unable to live up to his standards. His idea of what a future heiress should be like, doesn't seem to fit me that well. So I guess, when he saw me training with a puppet, he saw it merely as another way for me to neglect my duties. As in, he wants me to spend time improving my skills with the byakugan and the techniques surrounding it, instead of "wasting my time" on other matters," she sullenly explained, trying to keep her bitter tears at bay.

She knew she needed to rant, but was it that obvious?

"And so, he punished you by not feeding you?" Sasori said, bluntly.

She nodded, peering up at him through her eyelashes, her head bowed down.

"What about that other time then?"

She grimaced and tried to move her knees away from his imposing fingers but he had an iron grip on them. His tanned hands reminded her more of a pair of claws than anything else at the moment. His ring glimmered in yellow light of her room. She had always thought it to be quite pretty. It was a silver ring with a purple stone in it, which had the Kanji for "jewel" carved into it. It was situated on his left thumb though, which was a rather odd place but it sure wasn't the only thing that was odd. His nails were nowadays always painted in a dark green colour, but right now she noticed that some of the paint had started to flake. He would need to redo them soon...

Sasori hadn't always looked like that though. When he started painting his nails and wearing that ring, she had been around 8 years old. She had asked him about it and he had just laughed at her, telling her that there were no particular reason. She didn't quite believe that.

"Hinata, I'm not letting you go until you answer me," he said, meeting her eyes.

She couldn't keep eye contact with him for very long, she never could. She looked down once more, focusing on his hands. They were large enough to completely cover her knees, swallowing them up almost.

"I broke my mother's vase, on accident whilst I was running late for a training session. I just happened to graze it and before I knew it, it was on the ground in a million pieces..."

This time, her breath hitched as fresh tears started to swim around her white eyes, one of them managed to escape. It trailed down her chin, a lone tear. One of his hands let go of her knee and caught it before it could meet her lips. He dried her cheek with his knuckles and she was a bit surprised that he hadn't commented on her tear shedding.

"Obviously, you cannot possibly succeed if you're not being fed. He should know this, that fool you have for a father," Sasori said, his tone had a noticeable edge to it.

She took in his grave, serious face. His face that supposedly belonged to a man who was turning 31 in November, yet he didn't look a day over 20. His skin was incredible smooth without as much as a dimple or even wrinkle in it to hint at his age. It almost reminded her of plastic...

"I knew something was up. Your face look more gaunt that usual... I should have brought food with me," he continued as his hand left her cheek to take a hold of her jaw.

He turned her head sideways, seemingly observing her slender features.

"At least you brought the weed... it could make me sleep through my hunger and I could just eat an extra large portion of breakfast in the morning..." she tried, aiming at sounding encouraging but somehow felt like she'd failed even that.

"Promise me that Hinata," he said, turning back her face so that he could look into her eyes and catch her lies before they had even been uttered.

"I pledge that," she answered, her hand rising up to grasp his wrist.

She wanted to relieve his grip on her as it was starting to feel a tad bit too tight but she wasn't sure how exactly. He seemed to sense that for he removed his hand before long. Eventually half an hour passed as they went through their normal routine. He inquired about the two scrolls he'd left her with, scrolls that she'd have plenty of time to learn from. She recited the knowledge with the utmost precision, just as he had encouraged her to. Time flew right by her and as he was gathering up his things, she knew she needed to act quickly.

Every time she saw him, the same question boggled her mind and refused to leave her in peace. She just needed to find the right moment to ask him, to work up the courage. Of course, she had inquired about this matter before but he never gave her a straight answer. Either he avoided the question, changed the subject or simply tell her "I'll let you know some other time", which was very frustrating. As he stood up to place her new scrolls on the table across the bed, she took her chance.

"Sasori..." she blurted out, a bit too hasty.

He turned to look at her, not quite understanding her serious demeanour and tense voice. "Yes?"

She broke eye contact to look at her feet and gather her thoughts before determinedly looking up at him again. "Why won't you age?"

She doesn't know why she said it that way, so bluntly and straightforward. There were a million better ways to approach the subject but discretion had never been one of her strengths. Sasori's eyebrows shot upwards and something seemed to shift in his eyes, just for a second. Then a facade seemed to slip right into place as he gave her an askew smirk.

"This again?" he proclaimed, giving her a look.

She stared right back at him, sure of her stance. He sighed.

"Do you really want to know, doll?" he asked as he slowly circled her bed.

She kept her eyes on him as he casually but somehow unbearably methodically, stepped over the floorboards. Soundlessly so, like an animal on the prowl. He came to stop at the other side of her bed, the shadows marred his frame and twisted his features into seeming much more angular.

"Well... yes?" Her answer came out in an uncertain manner, suddenly she felt incredibly small.

The shadow of his standing figure, stretched out on the bed, tall and lanky as it covered her form. She doesn't know why, but she was a bit uncomfortable.

"Actually, I don't think you do, Hinata," Sasori murmured as he placed his foot on her bed and leaned forward, resting his arm on his knee.

She would have to change to sheets tomorrow and avoid sleeping on that side because he still had his boots on... Casting that thought aside, she decided to be brave and crawl a little bit closer to his "kneeling" form.

"Why do you say that?" she challenged, albeit weakly as she sat down on a pillow by his foot.

She couldn't help but to casually inspect his boot and noticed that it was indeed dirty. Mud was caked almost all over it and with a dawning coldness, she noticed splatters of something red. Red like blood. Had he...? She couldn't finish the thought, she almost didn't dare to. Hinata quickly looked away to inspect the wall behind him, her eyes were wide and her mind busy. There had to be logical reason for there to be blood on his boots... there had to. Maybe it was paint?

She quickly looked down on the splatters again, as if to confirm something. It sure didn't look like paint... Oh but what was she thinking? She known this person for almost her whole life and he had never given her a reason to doubt his words or to even fear him. Sasori wasn't a stranger, he was just Sasori from Suna, her mentor and friend. Hinata immediately felt foolish for drawing such harsh conclusions about something she didn't even know the first thing about. She shook her head, as if to discard the gnawing doubts she had and once again, lifted her gaze to her friend.

He watched her with utmost precision, the smirk was still in place. But now, he seemed terrible knowing. Like he'd just caught her with her hand in the cookie jar. His smirk grew until teeth showed, perfect white ones that she wished she had herself. He didn't smile like that often... it was the sort of rare, teeth-filled smile that left her unsure on whether or not he was genuinely happy or simply amused with a joke only he knew about.

"Sasori-san, please answer me..." she got out, smiling a bit herself as she felt compelled to mirror his movements.

"In all honestly Hinata, it will probably scare you and I wouldn't want to make you afraid of me, as the first thing I do after such a long time away from you," he explained in a calm manner, his hand grasping her head and scratching her scalp.

"Technically, it wouldn't be the first thing you'd do..." she couldn't help but say.

His fingers dug themselves into her hair some more, before tracing her cheek as they creeped down to settle themselves under her chin. Rising up her head a little, he looked into her eyes with the same toothy grin and said; "I will tell you once you're old enough to understand such things."

She wanted to object to that but kept her mouth shut and submitted to his wills. Something told her to go along with it, he probably knew what was best since he was her senior.

"Alright..." she mumbled, keeping her eyes on his before looking away once more.

"Good girl," he said in return and patted her head one last time before taking his foot off her bed.

His face was now devoid of the peculiar grin, instead he looked rather relaxed and neutral. "Toss me my bag, will you?"

She nodded and turned around, reaching over to the other side of the bed where the brown bag rested. She took ahold of it carefully tossed it in his direction. He caught it with one hand and beckoned her to come closer with the other. She did as she was instructed as rose up from the bed. His hand landed on the back of her head as he pulled her in for a hug. She welcomed his warmth and threw her arms around his torso.

She knew Sasori was rather short for a male of his age, (something she never brought up) but he was still taller than her. She reached only to his chest so far but she knew that there was a chance of her outgrowing him in the future. She tried hugging him for as long as she was allowed to and before long, he let go of her and stepped away.

"Until next time, doll," he said over his shoulder as he slid open the glass door, leading out to the garden.

"When will that be?" she tried asking him and walked after him as he stepped out into the night, already disappearing into the shadows.

He didn't answer her. She guessed he didn't hear her and suspected that he was long gone. As soon as he'd stepped out into the gathering darkness, he had seemingly dissolved into nothingness. As if he had been swallowed up by the night itself. How mysterious... he would have to teach her that technique one day. In the rush of everything, she had somewhere along the way, reached out as if to grasp him.

Nothing but the cold air greeted her fingers as her white arm stood out like a lighthouse in the dark. She let it drop to her side as she closed the door. Turning away from the window, she took one hard look at the bed sheets. A big, grimy footprint could be seen amongst the white. It was dark red in colour and it briefly reminded her of his eyes... Then again, his eyes were much more beautiful than some ugly footprint.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The hallway was way too crowded and she was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable by the minute. It was at times like this, that she regretted her attire. The big fluffy jacked she loved so much, provided her with a false sense of security and familiarity... but it did nothing for the heat. She was too warm in it but she didn't want to take it off, not yet.

She was standing with her team members; Kiba and Shino. They were both engulfed in a conversation, hyping each other up for the first stage of the chunin exams. The little pup Akamaru ran in small circles around Kiba, he had too much energy and she suspected that he was a bit nervous considering the ruckus around them.

Shino and Kiba suddenly broke out in chuckles and Akamaru joined in with his high pitched howls. She listened with half an ear, seeing as she was rather distracted at the moment.

If only Naruto knew of how much of her attention he attracted. She felt herself blush as she observed his abrasive nature as he joked around with his own teammates. They seemed to tolerate him, mildly so.

She wished she was his friend, somehow. She had always looked up to him, his unapologetic personality looked to be heavy with respect and confidence in his own capabilities.

Even when he failed, he acted as if it was a part of his great plan. His mistakes didn't hinder him from trying again and again, determined to succeed. He laughed in face of his infirmity and strived to overcome any obstacle. He was strong and persistent. She wished she was more like Naruto, he seemed happier.

Hinata looked away from the blonde boy. On accident her eyes met that of two pairs of familiar green ones. Haruko stood together with her own team. Her hair was just as wild as usual, tangled in long auburn locks. She wore a green attire, matching her eyes.

Hinata saw her from time to time, but they never spoke. Although this time, the redhead gave her a small nod before turning back to her friends. A bittersweet feeling rose in her chest.

Hinata didn't know if she wanted Haruko back or not, but it still felt nice to have some sort of acknowledgement from her. A part of her missed their play dates, although it was rather childish.

Hinata discarded her thoughts and closed her eyes as she leaned her head on the wall behind her. It had been about three weeks since Sasori's last visit. Her first mission came and went, without too much trouble. She could hardly wait to tell him all about it.

A familiar voice reached her ears and she automatically turned her head in the direction of it. It was Neji, her cousin. He seemed to be in some sort of a disagreement with the Uchiha boy, Sasuke. She couldn't hear what they were talking about and as soon as her cousin caught her eye, she looked away.

Neji hadn't liked her since the death of his father and Hinata's uncle. It was a nasty ordeal. When she was around three years old, she was kidnapped by the head ninja of Kumogakure. Well... it was more of an attempted kidnapping than the actual thing, seeing as her father cut down the ninja before he could make his leave.

Kumogakure denied all allegations of kidnapping and demanded the body of Hinata's father as compensation for their dead head ninja. This was where Hinata's uncle and Neji's father came into the picture.

He was the younger twin of the clan leader and looked exactly like him. So naturally, he was sent instead and thus managed to seal his byakugan, rendering it useless. All so that Kumogakure wouldn't learn of its secrets, which had been their goal from the beginning.

Hinata knows Neji blames both her and her father for the death of his father. He's had a grudge against the main family ever since. She'd tried many times to smooth things over with her cousin but he would have none of it.

He'd been so mean to her ever since and she had stopped trying to relate to him. It didn't matter how many times she told him of how sorry she was, it didn't change the fact of the tragedy. She knew it wasn't her fault. Still, she felt guilty whenever their eyes would accidentally meet. Guilty for her place in the ordeal, her place in the main family.

Suddenly a loud creek and a bang assaulted her ears. Hinata looked in the direction of the noise, as did everyone else. Right at that moment, they all knew that the first stage of the chunin exams were about to begin.

...

Deidara has been sick with the flu for the last couple of days, so Pein had the brilliant idea of assigning Itachi as his temporary partner. To think there would come a day when Sasori would actually miss Deidara, was repulsive but disastrously true.

He didn't like Itachi, he never really had. But he had some redeeming qualities, he was intelligent, strong and he didn't talk unless he absolutely had to. When he compared Itachi to his first partner Orochimaru, Itachi won by a long shot.

Orochimaru had bothered him from day one. From the way he looks, to the way he acts and just his whole personality were less than great. Sasori didn't use the word creepy often but if Orochimaru's whole being could be summed up in one single word, creepy would be it.

It was quite obvious that the Sannin had ulterior motives behind his willingness to join up with the Akatsuki. It was just Sasori's bad luck that they ended up as partners. Lady Luck finally smiled upon him though, when the Sannin left almost as quickly as he had joined.

Even if Orochimaru had been worse than Itachi, Itachi was still no good. Sasori had a gut feeling when it came to the Uchiha, just like he'd had with Orochimaru. He didn't trust the Uchiha. He came of as snobby and patronising, and way too angst-driven.

It was obvious that he was hiding something. His dislike for the man grew more and more ferocious the more time he had to spend with him. Soon every breath he took in his company irked him to no end. So Sasori tended to stay inside the husk of Hiruko for as often as humanly possible. Anything to put as many barriers in between him and the broody shinobi as possible.

He knew Itachi had plots, plans and schemes that he tried desperately to hide. He was good at it but not so good that it could actually fool the puppeteer. Until he knew of the Uchiha's true motives, he would keep his tabs on the young man and observe him closely from a distance. He couldn't be trusted and were he to be left to his own devices, he would surely betray the Akatsuki and spill information.

Nevertheless, the puppet master was relieved that his mission with the Uchiha was over. He had just reported back to Pein, or well, they had. Now they could finally go their separate ways.

In silence, the two Akatsuki members exited the large cave that laid hidden amongst the steep hills in the land of the Earth. Sasori valued silence, in particular this one. So for some inexplicable reason, Itachi saw it fit to break that silence. How out of character of him...

"So where are you off to now, Sasori-san?"

He cringed inside the shell of Hiruko. Why did he have to put his nose in places where it obviously didn't belong? Not only that but he was trying way too hard at sounding casual, it just came off as unnatural.

"None of your business," he stated, keeping the eyes of Hiruko on the rocky path before them.

"Hm, I would have to guess then," the Uchiha said in response.

"Do not meddle in my business, Uchiha," he grunted out in return, feeling his patience slipping.

"I find it hard not to since your business heavily involves my old home, Konoha."

Inside the husk of Hiruko, Sasori's leg spasmed as his face slowly seemed to freeze. The surprise came and went quickly and a seething anger was left in its wake. How did he know?! What did he know? He clenched his fist, nails digging into his skin.

"Explain yourself."

"I want to know why you have been visiting Konoha lately," Itachi confessed as he stopped in his tracks and turned to face him fully.

The puppet master was quiet for a while. He was trying to figure him out. Sasori knew Itachi was stronger than him. The mangekyo sharingan was too powerful, over-powered in a sense. This didn't disturb his ego one bit though.

He was comfortable in his status and had no delusional fantasies of being "the strongest". Wasting time and energy on such childish ideas were beneath him. He lived for his art and that was it. Though, he was a realist and he knew he had to rely more on his brains than his brawls when it came to Itachi Uchiha.

With a shrill snap, a thick mantle of smoke engulfed Hiruko as the puppet was dismissed. Standing in the midst of the smokescreen with the scroll still in hand, Sasori gave the ninja an askew smirk. His face indicated that of a relaxed amusement but his posture was tense and his eyes, calculating and narrowed.

"I have several workshops in Konoha, that's why I'm there so often," he explained, putting away the scroll in the case by his waist.

"Inside it's walls as well?" Itachi prodded, his eyebrows creasing themselves in suspicion.

"No," he said, bluntly.

"Then why-"

"How many spies do you have in Konoha?" Sasori interrupted, the smirk was still in place but it had grown into a sharp, thin line.

"Not as many as you think, and you?" Itachi fired back, his jaw clenched.

"More than you could imagine," he answered, confidently because he knew it to be true.

Itachi gave him the tiniest of smirks before he turned around and started walking again. Sasori eyed him intently, slowly tailing his steps.

"Are you trying to get a hold of the Byakugan?" The Uchiha asked suddenly and now, Sasori would have to give him some credit for not beating around the bush.

"No need for that, I already have three of them," Sasori said, a tad bit more crudely than intended.

Itachi turned around at that and he was pleased to witness a shocked glimpse in his dark eyes, before his facade could slip back into place.

"How did you manage that?"

"It was very easy, and it was years ago... I believe you were still at the village at that time," Sasori adduced with a shrug of his shoulders.

"But if you already have three byakugans, then what is your interest in the heiress?" Itachi got out, spitting out the question that he'd probably wanted to ask from the beginning.

Sasori gave him a snide leer, chuckling at his question. So he knew about little Hinata... not much of a surprise there but the real question is how much?

"Didn't your parents teach you to not put your nose where it doesn't belong, boy?" He commented, calmly walking up to him, like a tiger on the prowl.

"What's your end goal?" The Sharingan wielder asked, ignoring his comment.

"Art," Sasori answered.

"Could you elaborate on that?"

"Why should I?"

Itachi became quiet for a second, observing the puppet master through half-lidded charcoal eyes.

Then he said; "Because you know how the mangekyo sharingan works."

The threat was there for anyone to see and Sasori sure didn't miss it.

"Let's make a deal then. I will tell you all about my business with the heiress and you will tell me why you are so concerned with your old home. In fact, so concerned that you would enlist spies behind its walls, it doesn't sound like you are quite over the hidden leaf city. I wonder, if your personal interests would clash with that of the Akatsuki's, I wonder how Pein would react to that." Sasori's voice was that of razor sharp blades, cutting through the tension-filled air, precise and on point..

The puppeteer hadn't lost his smile, in truth, it had grown a bit to reveal teeth. This was entertainment for him. Risky, yes but that's what made it interesting. Itachi just stared at him, his eye twitched as he fingered with the hem of his Akatsuki cloak. Although, he couldn't hide the intrigue in his dark eyes.

"I wonder the same about you. Your discretion would be appreciated. I would find it terrific if this just stays between us, puppet master," he said, his voice cold and direct, but respectful enough.

"Then it is settled. As for the heiress... well you could say I'm training her. She is a work of art and she certainly won't be complete without my input. Besides, she will hand me useful information in the future, regarding her clan and whatever else I might want. She will give it to me without resistance. Hinata is truly a fine asset, for both me and the Akatsuki. Pein already knows of her existence, It would be foolish of me to try to hide her from him. After all, he keeps tabs on us all through the rings. He agrees with me that she could be of use to our cause. Now tell me of your own reasons," he smoothly said, looking away to inspect the hills around them, almost casual.

Itachi seemed to scrutinise him for a few seconds before he exhaled, in what could be perceived as defeat. Yet, that curious glint in his eye hadn't diminished.

"You haven't lied to me so I see no reason to be anything less than truthful. I'm keeping tabs on my brother, making sure that he doesn't get himself into any trouble," he explained meeting the puppeteers eyes. Sasori knew that there was something else he wasn't telling him but sure, he could play along for now.

"That is understandable," he began, "But don't involve yourself in my personal interests again boy, mind your own business and I will do the same and none would be the wiser," he concluded with an air of finality.

He knew the Uchiha didn't like to be told off like a dog or to be called a boy, but that was exactly what he was in Sasori's eyes. After all, he was only 18 and Sasori was by far, his senior. Before the Uchiha could say anything in return, he decided to continue.

"Why did you bring this up now? You've had the whole mission to confront me so, why now and why here?"

"I needed your cooperation on the mission, and since I didn't know how you would react, I figured it would be best to wait," the boy answered as he turned around and started to walk once more.

"Wise choice," was all he said in return, following the young Uchiha as they started to descend the hillside.

"So... are you heading towards Konoha after this?" Itachi once again broke the silence that hadn't lasted for more than a few seconds.

"I'm not sure. Probably, since I want to be there for the Chunin exams but I fear I might not make it. They have already begun after all," Sasori said, seeing no real reason to lie now.

"I'm sure you will make it. Me and Kisame will be there too, not exactly on the exam but after it. How did you manage to get through the barrier?" Itachi asked, sounding genuinely thoughtful for a second.

"I have my fair share of sleeper agents within the ANBU," he responded.

In truth, he only had two sleeper agents in the black ops but he didn't need to know that.

"That would explain it," the Uchiha said back, his voice, slightly muffled by the collar of his cloak.

"The heiress doesn't know that you're in the Akatsuki right?" his muffled voice broke out again.

"No, she doesn't even know of the organisation's existence yet," Sasori answered as he took a look at the gathering rain clouds above their heads.

Their walk continued in silence, before they went their separate ways at the border. Itachi set off towards their hideout in the land of lightning, and himself ventured on towards Konoha.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hi my loves! So i know i have been away for a very long time and trust me, this hiatus was greatly needed. But just because i'm here with another chapter doesn't mean i'm back for good... Lots of stuff has happened to me recently and i have a lot of issues to deal with. I can't exhaust myself too much because i already know how that will end. I kind of wish i could tell you guys about the problems i find myself in but i don't think it would be appropriate, and i don't even know if i'm comfortable with such a prospect. Just know that you need not worry about me!**

**I understand though, that these times are difficult for most of us, i would say all of us. There are plenty of reasons to be worried about the state of the world and where we are headed. Sure, we can be worried and cautious, but we must never succumb to fear and panic. We mustn't act like the house is on fire, nothing productive or even good will result in that. With this in mind, i am (very very very) happy that i can give people the distraction and comfort needed through my stories. I will probably never stop writing because of that, it brings me solace as well. I'm sorry for leaving and I'm sorry for the future hiatuses i will probably take. If any of you people follow my Gintama story, i am pleased to announce that i have the next chapter ready. I just need to do some editing and thinking before i can release it! :)**

**Anyways, enough of my ramblings and let's just get on with the story, shall we?**

**Chapter 10**

Her heart jumped in her throat as the reality of the situation became more and more apparent. She didn't want to fight Neji, the very idea of it made her nauseous. Hinata could feel herself sweating even more through her thick jacket. With trembling hands, she took it off and checked to see that she still had the holster with the scroll around her waist.

Feeling it underneath her fingers made her only a tiny bit more comfortable but discomfort still churned in her stomach and the lump in her throat wouldn't loosen up, no matter how many times she tried to swallow it down.

She looked over to her cousin to find him already descending the ladder to the battle ground. He obviously didn't care. Neji would do anything to win this. She knew she needed to do the same, she couldn't let her fear of harming him, steer her to her doom.

The great arena seemed to suffer in silence, as if the very building along with everyone inside of it, held their breath. The calm before the storm. With trembling legs, she descended the ladder and took her place, a few meters away from her cousin.

She tried again and again to remember Sasori's face. What would he say to her if he was here? He believes in her and she couldn't possibly let him down. Hinata felt as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders, timidly and anxiously she started to gnaw on her fingernails. Her opal eyes snapped up to Neji, as soon as he spoke.

"I never thought that I would have a fight with you, Hinata-sama," he almost spat out her name.

She tried to avoid his piercing gaze but it seemed she couldn't escape it.

"Start the battle please," Genma said, his voice sounded very neutral but his eyes told a story of pity.

"Withdraw! You are not suited to be a shinobi. That personality and that lack of strength won't change," Neji continued, hard as ice as he activated his byakugan.

There were lots of things Hinata wanted to say to that. She wanted to prove him wrong, prove herself stronger. Neji, with his derogatory comments, was basically stomping on her hard work, and indirectly stomping on Sasori's hard work.

Anger churned in her stomach, a vile resentment that took her by surprise with its ferocity. Anger mixed with embarrassment and fear. It sounded just like her.

She pressed her fingers to her lips, as if to hinder the things she would've blurted out. Oh yes, there were lots of things she knew she could say to Neji. Lots of things that would undoubtedly hurt him and rouse his rage.

Lots of embarrassing stuff she could unearth in front of everyone. Hinata knew better than that though. And so, she only pressed down on her lips harder. As a warning to herself, to not step out of line.

"My eyes can't be deceived. This is the sign that you are recalling your past experiences... your bitter past. The image of you losing!" Neji exclaimed, the veins around his eyes flexing like muscles as he narrowed his eyes. "Laying a finger on your lips, that is a self-familiarising act which represents a sense of panic. Changing yourself is something you absolutely can't," he concluded, as if he had read her like a book.

He spoke of her innermost fears, as if they were his own but she knew better than that. He liked to believe that he knew her. She would prove him wrong… she knew she would. Hinata had to.

"Sure she can!" Naruto suddenly shouted from the platform, overlooking the arena. Hinata almost jumped in shock. "Give it to him Hinata!" he continued with a clenched fist.

Hope bloomed in her chest, warm and soft. She glanced up at the onlookers, spotting Haruko's red hair amongst them. So she had survived the forest as well? Strange how she didn't spot her before.. Either way, she didn't let her eyes linger on her childhood friend.

Instead she focused on Naruto. A shy smile adorned her face as she took in his happy face. He looked at her with a determined smile, his blue eyes as wild as his unruly hair. Yes. He was right, he always was and he never failed to amaze her.

Blushing only slightly, Hinata straightened her back and fixed Neji with an almost blank, stony stare. She swallowed thickly and nervously smoothed out her black t-shirt. With her mind set on winning, she gave Neji one last resentful look before she closed her eyes and activated her byakugan. Taking her stance, the roots around her eyes flexed in the same manner as his had. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, setting her jaw and lips in a tight line.

"Neji-niisan, I challenge you!" she said in a surprisingly steady tone.

Hinata wouldn't run anymore. She couldn't let Naruto down and she refused to let Sasori down as well. The fight was on. This wasn't a spar, it was way more serious than that. It could be seen in the quickness of their movements.

In truth Hinata was barely keeping up with Neji, because when it comes to taijutsu and the gentle fist, he was the superior one. Sure she managed to land a couple of hits but they did minimal damage, she needed better angles and more time...

As quick as a snake, his fist lashed out and hit her straight in her chest. She lost her breath and immediately jumped backwards. Coughing up blood, she held her damaged sternum and stared at her cousin with wide eyes.

He smirked at her pain and raised a brow, as if to say; Are you done? No way. Biting her lip, she decided to bring forth her puppet.

Taking out the scroll from the holster, she rolled it out in front of her and with a yell, she did the hand signs and summoned Hana. The great spider emerged from the smoke like an omen of death. She watched as Neji's eyes became so wide that she expected them to pop out of his skull. He obviously didn't know that she knew of the puppet technique.

With her blue chakra strings, she made the puppet leave the ground as the eight legs morphed into sharp swords. The swords started to spin around the puppet like a windmill would and without warning she launched it at her cousin.

It spun through the air like a massive shuriken but twice as deadly. The spinning swords were coated with poison. The only thing Neji could do was to duck and run away from the spinning death machine. He threw kunai's at it, which did nothing as the meagre weapons merely bounced off the hard, durable surface.

Her fingers twitched and Hana opened her mouth, sending out numerous poisonous senbons. Two of them hit Neji, one in the arm and another in the thigh, the rest he managed to avoid. Yes. She knew the poison would act swiftly, but not swift enough.

Still running from the puppet, Neji quickly took out the senbons but she knew it was too late. Soon, he would be affected by the poison, she just needed to stand her ground until then. Hinata was struck by how easy it suddenly seemed. She should have taken out Hana sooner.

The blades around her puppet started to spin around in a quicker pace now, and it was propelled forwards, madly chasing after her twin. Neji's face was still twisted in pure disbelief at the situation.

In the middle of his run, his leg failed him, the same leg that had been struck with a senbon. Holding his arm, he fell to the side. Her puppet was only a few seconds away from cutting him in half when he made a series of hand signs, as best as he could in his current state.

Opening his mouth, he blew out a big cloud of fire against the puppet. Hinata swore loudly as she quickly tried to move Hana out of the way but it was too late.

Neji scurried off to the side as it crashed to the ground in a heap of burning wood and metal. Fury clouded her mind and she decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. Dismissing the ruined puppet, she made two clones of herself and attacked him head on.

She had the upper hand seeing as he currently, couldn't use his right hand and leg to their full capacity. Soon, the poison would spread through his veins and attack his heart, she needed to finish this before that could happen and give him the antidote.

Hinata and her clones came at him, one from behind, another jumped at him from above and another attacked straight ahead. It was impossible to distinguish the real Hinata from her clones, she had made sure of that. As she had made her attack, she took special care to switch in between her clones, like how someone would mix cards before a game.

Neji would have none of it. With a shrill, furious growl, he spun around and immediately dismissed her two clones with his remaining functional leg and hand, a master of the gentle fist even during a major handicap.

It was all the time she needed to completely devastate his remaining chakra points. She could clearly see how his chakra points in his dysfunctional leg and arm were almost completely shut down from the poison.

In the midst of the smoke created by her clones, Hinata had appeared in a flash with her hand raised. She struck hard and fast at the centre of his chest and as a consequence, her cousin couldn't help but to cough up a mouthful of blood.

As fast as she could manage, her gentle fist made quick work on the remainder of his chakra points, striking him fast like bullets across the chest. All at once, a flurry of motion.

She had now forcibly shut down his chakra pathways but in the midst of everything, Neji had managed to lodge a shuriken in her arm. It was all he had managed though. Hinata has been so preoccupied, so filled to the brim with adrenaline that the pain hadn't even registered in her mind.

Neji came crashing to the ground, immobile from her assault on his chakra points. The poison in his system did little against his internal injuries, it only made them worse. She took a step back, almost expecting him to jump up again but she knew it was impossible.

With wide eyes, she took in his sweaty, writhing form. His breath came out in a slow rasping sound, like a broken vacuum cleaner. Even more blood spilled from his mouth and with a dawning horror, she realised that he couldn't even move his neck.

This meant that he would choke on his own blood… which was currently happening. But was it really horror she felt? Or was it just the horror she could see in his eyes as he laid there, utterly helpless. He was pale, too pale, paler than usual. Pallid like someone at the brink of death.

She knew he couldn't breathe but she couldn't find any will to turn him over as more blood leaked from his chapped, open lips. He made several loud, gurgling noises in the back of his throat, it sounded as if he wanted to say something.

Was this for real? She couldn't tell. Hinata felt frozen, surely, she couldn't have caused this much harm...? Surely, he must be faking it to make her look bad? A sudden rage gripped her heart, but she didn't know what it was directed at.

"Get up!" she screamed at her cousin.

Her shrill cry echoed around the arena and the sound of it made her feel stronger. Like she was much more than just a lone girl. Like there were many on her side, many in her voice and stance. Like she was stronger in numbers.

Yet, that shrill angry scream, didn't sound like her though. The voice was too low, too rough and sharp. She didn't think about that though. Neji stared up at her, his byakugan had long since dissipated. Was it terror she saw in his eyes?

Could she leave him to die? Would she get away with it? Was she even capable of such a thing? It was now that she suddenly felt afraid... now as she realised that she already knew the answer to that question. The mere fact that she hadn't helped him by now, said a lot. Lots of things that shouldn't be said, things that didn't need to be said.

Her byakugan deactivated itself and with trembling legs, she took a step back. And then a second, and one more. It was as if she was on autopilot, not in control of her body, or of her own mind. She couldn't steer her thoughts straight.

Before long she had backed herself into the wall behind her. Sliding down the rough stone, she fell into a motionless heap on the ground. She couldn't take her eyes off the scene before her. Medics and other shinobis rushed over to her cousin. They engulfed him in a green light and as they began their healing, turning him over and clearing a pathway to his lungs.

Hinata realised that he wouldn't make it. Not without the antidote. Reaching into the holster by her waist, she removed a small bottle the size of her little finger. She knew she needed to stand up and rush over to his dying form. But she couldn't get her legs to function, she felt paralysed.

With a rising panic, she realised she was frozen and if she couldn't get her body to move, Neji-niisan would surely die. If he died, her father would never look at her the same again, her sister would never forgive her and her clan would be horrified and completely merciless in their vengeance.

In their eyes, she had killed family, one of their own. A priced member, a young genius who had brought them so much pride. They would cast her aside, they would exile her, leave in an asylum, put the cursemark on her. She would lose her friends, Kiba, Shino, Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Neji's own teammates would never speak to her again. Haruko would probably spread all kinds of rumors.

Hinata, in all her self-absorbed selfishness, failed to consider the life of her cousin. Instead her head spun around with worries for only herself. Maybe it was the Devil's Breath... maybe it was maybeline, who knows. But nevertheless, she forced herself to take action.

"The antidote!" she yelled out, her voice breaking like twig at the end of the sentence.

The medics turned to the sound of her call and took in her crumpled form. She had her arm outstretched with the bottle in her palm. They stared at her, everyone in the arena did.

As they realised that she wouldn't move, one unfamiliar shinobi ran towards her to take the bottle from her hand. Just before he could grasp it, her fingers curled around it tightly. He stared at her with a furious look in his eye and Hinata could hear herself whisper;

"But... he's dead already..."

A hard slap could be felt across her cheek, it bloomed red and stung terribly as the ninja had struck her face sideways and wrenched the bottle from her hand. She fell to the side, feeling how everything started to spin around her, she swore she could see stars for a second.

As she'd landed on her arm, the shuriken in her flesh sunk deeper into her and she welcomed the pain. Anything to distract her from the cries of Tenten, the shouting medics, the heated voices coming from the balconies… Haruko's and Naruto's voices were the loudest. That didn't surprise her. They were both equally as extroverted and eccentric.

Soon all the sounds around her merged into one great ear-splitting racket. An orchestra filled with disorder, disharmony and loud acrimony. The brutal force of it all made her head hurt tremendously. Everything seemed to spin faster and faster, spinning away, spinning out of time. Before she knew it, Hinata had blacked out, drooling from her bloodied mouth.

...

With big, alert and alarmed eyes, byakugan activated, she woke up with a start. Darkness greeted her and her x-ray vision soon deduced that she was in fact, in the hospital and no one was nearby. At least she had her own dormitory.

With stiff and aching limbs, she slowly sat up and continued to inspect her surroundings. She was still wearing her old clothes but her sandals had been taken off and her holster had been confiscated. Her arm was bandaged but the flesh wound under there still hurt. But not too much.

In time and with shaking breaths, she allowed her byakugan to fall away. She wanted to go back to sleep but couldn't. There were too many things on her mind. Like Neji... was he alright? He must be in this hospital as well... somewhere. Hinata pulled the duvet off of her and unsteadily stood up. She threaded over to the closed door and tried the handle.

Of course it was locked... the room didn't even have any windows so she couldn't tell what time it was. The dorm was a simple one, white floor, white walls, white bed. A single wooden chair stood next to it and her sandals laid at its side, but that was it.

It was enough to drive anyone mad... what if she needed to use the bathroom? If she started screaming now, surely some nurse would hear her? Luckily, she didn't have to take such drastic measures as the door suddenly started to get unlocked and unsealed.

The sharp noise in the silence made her immediately nervous and she backed away. Hinata took refuge in the bed, hiding under the covers and pretending to be asleep. She fully expected it to be a bunch of angry chunins, informing her of her cousin's death and dragging her off to a juvenile prison.

The door creaked open and a pair of boots smoothly ventured inside before the door was swiftly shut and locked. Someone strode up to her, calmly enough to make her extremely uncomfortable.

Then, the bed dipped to one side as the person sat down by her curled up form. She held her breath and wished she could sink through the bed entirely. The person sighed deeply in an exasperated way and that's when she suddenly recognised the sound.

She had heard that sigh, countless times before. With hope in her heart, Hinata quickly dove up and threw the duvet to the side. Sasori stared back at her, looking a bit surprised at her quick response to his noise.

With tears in her eyes, tears from pure joy and maybe even some stress, she immediately threw her arms around his neck and climbed into his lap. She didn't care about anything other than the fact that he was finally here, finally here to take her pain and worries away.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you're here," she got out, hiccuping softly in his neck.

His familiar hands came around the small of her back and enclosed her in his arms. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner," he answered in his usual neutral but still caring in its own way.

"Sasori, I-i don't know what to do, I think I may have killed Neji-niisan..." Hinata continued, not sure how to explain what had happened.

Unbeknownst to her, the puppet master already knew. One of his sleeper agents had been present in the arena. An anonymous jounin, overlooking the event. The first thing Sasori had done once he got to Konoha, was to track that Jounin down and go through his memories.

With one complicated but precise jutsu, he had effectively entered his mind and looked through his eyes, flicking through his memories much like a Yamanaka would. But of course it wasn't the same thing. Either way it was good enough for him to get a semi-clear picture of what he had missed out on.

He had watched with a keen interest as Hinata fought her cousin. Interest coated with a sick sense of pride as she started to use the techniques he had so graciously taught her. Puppets and poisons. Yes, he would restore Hana for her and maybe make her a second one, as a reward.

His keen interest and pride, had soon flourished into a shocked mirth, an excited glee as she utterly plummeted her opponent. Sasori was incredibly proud, and even more so as he'd observed her unwillingness to help her dying cousin.

It was as clear as the fabric of their 3-dimensional reality, he had made Hinata into a powerful, and cunning little Kunoichi. The callousness he'd witnessed in her, the turmoil he'd seen in her eyes and actions, made him only a tiny bit wary.

Maybe he should take it easy on her, maybe he should limit her access to the drug... in all honesty, it wouldn't be in his best interest if she got any more out of line than this, he didn't need a sociopathic child on his hands. And he didn't need more eyes on her either...

Said child was currently straddling his lap and hugging him to the best of her ability. Sasori reached up and unhooked her arms from his neck. She let him have his way and leaned back a bit. Without a word, he picked her up and put her back on the bed.

"Your cousin is perfectly fine, he is resting in another part of the hospital but his condition is serious," he reassured her but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Her reaction spurred on his suspicions even further, she didn't care much about her cousin, whether she knew that or not, she seemed more concerned with the aftermath of her actions. More concerned for her own safety.

"I messed up, I-I overdid it, oh Sasori-san, I dread to meet my clan after this. They will never forgive me, t-they might as well put the c-curse-mark on me for this-" she paused her rambling to inhale in a panicked way. "A-and my teammates will think of me as a m-monster, everyone will...!"

The puppet master hushed her, putting a hand over her mouth and indirectly keeping her from hyperventilating. He widened his eyes and raised his brows, keeping eye contact with her.

"Overthinking won't do you any good Hinata. I promise, they will never see you as a monster and your clan won't be foolish enough to put the curse-mark on you, that would be a scandal almost as big as this one and you know how much your father care about appearances," Sasori smoothly whispered out to her wide, terrified eyes.

He was only saying this to calm her, he wasn't sure of anything at this point. It seemed to work though, so he continued. "You will have me on your side to support you in their stead. I will always be there even if they aren't. They will never see you, see this, the way I do."

He removed his hand from her lips and ran his fingers through her black strands, feeling the softness of the dark mane. She looked up at him, much more calm but clearly confused.

"Wha- What do you mean?"

He gave her a lopsided grin as his fingers caught a black lock of hair and started to twirl it into a spiral.

"When they saw you in that arena, they looked shocked and alarmed. They would regard your strength as a loose cannon, something that should be repressed and controlled. I see it for what it truly is. A gift, an endless hole of possibilities. You alone have the talent, the courage, the utility and the will to walk that extra mile. The extra mile, most people won't take because of their own weaknesses and fears, masquerading as stuck up morals. You see the truth and you aren't afraid, you break the mould in such a daring fashion, of course it would be off-putting to lesser minds," he explained, keeping his voice even, cool and collected but sprinkled with just the right amount of awe.

He knew compliments took him a long way with his delightful, albeit foolish little girl. He saw how her eyes seemed to shine brighter with each word, her cheeks became pink and her mouth fell open in a soundless gasp. Oh how he loved to play her like an instrument.

"Don't you see Hinata? You are great, truly a work of art."

"S-Sasori-san, do you really mean all that?"

"I know all that."

A semi-weak smile graced her lips, her eyes stood out like two snow-white moons in the shadowed room. Her long, dark eyelashes fluttered like the wings of a butterfly. He was struck with the fact that she was so incredibly pretty.

Almost too pretty, sweet enough to make his teeth rot were he to sink his teeth into her flesh. He almost wanted to test that theory... almost. One day in the future perhaps. Casting aside that distracting thought, his eyes took in the big, blooming bruise she had on her cheekbone. A blemish to ruin her otherwise perfect, pearly skin.

"This is from that ninja right? The one that you gave the antidote to?"

His fingers carefully caressed the blue bruise.

"...How did you know that? Were you at the arena?" Hinata suddenly asked, her dark brows furrowing themselves in confusion.

"Sleeper agents," was all he said.

"What's that...?"

"It's a spy of some sort," Sasori said, seeing no real reason not to tell her.

He knew he could trust her but even so, he wouldn't elaborate on it further. She nodded in silence and reached up to lightly touch the bruise herself.

"Do you know why he hit you?"

"Um...oh I think it was... eh I-I don't know..." she hesitantly whispered out, squirming in her seat on the bed. That last part sounded almost like a hesitant question...

"Hinata, tell me," he commanded, knowing that there was something she wasn't telling him.

"B-But it's something truly despicable..."

"Tell me anyway, you know I won't judge you," he prodded, running his hand through her hair again, soothingly so.

She was quiet for a while before she spilled the beans. "I-i swear it was like I had no real control over myself... Right as I... as I was about to give him the antidote, I attempted to keep it f-from him..."

Sasori's eyebrows raised themselves in interest, his lean lips curved into the tiniest of grins before falling away into neutrality once more.

"Why?"

She looked away, her shoulders heavy with shame, guilt and disgust.

"I-I said something along the lines that... that it was t-too late for Neji-niisan... but I truly did believe that, a-at least at the moment. The poison had already done so much damage and I- I didn't know what effects it would have on his d-damaged chakra points. He- he just really didn't look like h-he was going to m-make it and he was suffering so much already..." Hinata's voice sang out in hushed whispers, full of remorse and regret, like a bubbly little rant.

She felt guilty for giving up so quickly on her cousin, maybe that was a good sign.

"I-if only I had the time to just explain... they must have thought me to be m-murderous in my intent..."

He considered her words, allowing his hand to stroke her head in soft, gentle caresses. He almost couldn't get enough of the feel of her hair. It was so smooth and soft.

"Well, What's done is done... I wouldn't worry too much about it, you could always say it was due to shock... but I wonder, did you recognise the shinobi that struck you for it?" Hinata gave him a lock that could at best be described as hopeless.

"No... not really, please Sasori don't do anything to him, it wouldn't exactly make me look good and it's n-not right," she proclaimed in hushed tones.

"I never said I was going to do anything, I just want to know what he looks like in case I run into him. There wouldn't be anything that could possibly tie you to such an incident either way, I would make sure of that," he explained, smoothly.

She shook her head, almost violently so.

"Why?"

He rolled his eyes at her blatant question.

"Honestly Hinata, did you really think a grown man could put his hands on you and get away with it?" Sasori almost hissed out, his hand tracing over the blooming bruise on her cheek.

She stayed quiet for that one, not really sure what to say. He cupped her cheek in his gloved hand and coaxed her head up. "Don't look so sad doll, you won and soon, you will be one of the lucky few to reach the next and final tournament, if you can manage that, you will be a full fledged chunin."

Hinata sighed and leaned into his hand.

"A-alright then... well he had dark hair that went down to his neck, curly. His skin was tanned with green eyes and he had a large scar that went down his cheek to his jaw... but that's all I remember."

For some reason, she felt like she was committing a sin and dooming someone in the process. Just by telling him this. Like this was a grave, big, terrible mistake, a clear wrongdoing that she overlooked just because he told her to. But Hinata would have to wait to make amends for that. If she ever could.

"Good girl," Sasori whispered to her as he once again lifted her head up when he thought she'd stared at her own lap for too long.

Holding eye contact with her, he allowed a wide grin to coat his lips. "Once you're a chunin, you will have more freedom to go on solo missions, I figured I could take you with me on one of my own missions sometime."

Excitement stirred in her chest, dissolving her gloom a tiny bit. "Really? I can travel with you?" Hinata asked with wonder in her eyes.

"Not anytime soon but in the future, yes. You need to gather some experience first."

She allowed a smile to dance on her lips as she leaned closer to him, small, white canines peeking out between her pink lips.

"Would you take me to Suna?"

Something in his eyes changed, like they lit up for a second before going back to their usual gleam. His smile spread wider, showing off his own teeth.

"Would you like that?" he whispered, almost mischievously so.

"I would love that!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down in glee.

"Shh!" he hushed her, putting a finger to his lips and she immediately stilled, feeling stupid.

As the silence stretched out around them, one could clearly hear the stomping of footsteps coming closer and closer. Sasori suddenly took a hold of her arms in a firm grip and stared into her eyes.

"Hinata I need you to listen to me now, and listen carefully. No matter what they plan to do to you, no matter what they say to you, I need you to remember the oath you swore to me. You cannot tell a soul about my presence here. No one must know Hinata and if someone were to find out, something must be done about it," he whispered to her, his face incredibly serious.

She was at a loss for words so she just nodded a handful of times, eyes wide and alert.

"Good girl, now give me a kiss," he said then, seemingly pleased with her decision to not speak.

She gave him a peck on his cheek, blushing slightly.

"W-when will I see you again?" she asked as he stood up.

"Soon enough, The final stage of the chunin exams will be held in a month from now. I will make sure to train you myself, " he explained in low tones as he caressed her head. "Bye for now."

With those words, he dissolved into thin air, there one second and gone the next. The sharp noise of a door being unlocked reached her ears. Looking at the opening door, she activated her byakugan and took in her visitors. She immediately wished she hadn't. The door swung open and in stepped one nurse, two Hyuga jounin's and her father. Oh no.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Hello my loves, if there are any of you still left xD**

**So... I have been on quite the hiatus, some stuff has been going on recently but most of all, I haven't had the creativity and the motivation to keep up with my stories, in particular this one. But right now, I have slowly but surely crawled my way back up from the depressive hole I just spontaneously fell into (it is a habit of mine, I'm sure some of you can relate).**

**Anyways, I have been buzzing with ideas for this one and I'm sorry if this chapter isn't up to your expectations. Despite the new ideas I have, I still find myself at quite the writers block here...**

**The new ideas I have, are set for later in the story, when the Chunin exams ordeal is over with. I wish I could skip forward to that part already but I need to go through this part first. If any of you are interested in helping me along this road, feel free to PM me! I am starved for some beta reading, grammar checking and tips for the second part of the chunin exams.**

**Nevertheless, I will manage either way! It just may take some time... but if you have waited this long for an update, I'm sure you will ride through anything! XD**

**Happy reading!**

**Chapter 11**

She had yet to dismiss her byakugan, somehow, it felt better to just leave it on. It made her feel less naked and she wasn't even in the nude so it didn't make much sense. Not that she cared about that. Sasori has probably slipped out the door the first chance he got, so that meant she was alone in this. Well even if he had stayed, there was no way for him to intervene… actually, she would be quite distressed if he tried to put himself in that sort of danger. Not to mention the mess she herself would be in.

"Hinata."

The sound of her father's voice cut into her ears and the stern nature of it made her wince.

She only nodded at him, trying with all her might to keep eye contact.

"Dismiss your byakugan," he ordered.

She did as she was told, her fists clenching themselves in the bed sheets as she allowed her bloodline limit to deactivate.

The nurse scribbled something down on her clipboard. She then looked at her father, who gave her a curt nod.

"Hinata-san, my name is Shinohara Ren and I'm just going to do a little evaluation on you. Feel free to ask me anything you want if you have something on your mind," the nurse said as she walked up to her seated form.

She was a blonde one, with big, blue eyes and a dolled up face. She looked harmless enough and so Hinata gave her a small smile.

"You may leave now, this certainly won't take too long," the nurse continued, directing her talk to the three Huygas.

Her father scrutinised the scene before him, his white eyes narrowed into slits before he nodded. Without as much as a word, he turned and left the room, the two Hyugas tailing his steps.

The door was slammed shut with an agonising boom, leaving her alone with the nurse.

Said nurse only smiled at her before she flicked through some papers attached to her clipboard. She took a seat on the chair that stood next to the bed, crossing her legs and straightening her back.

"So Hinata-san, do you know why you are here?"

Hinata felt rather nervous but she was determined to not let that show. Her face turned stony.

"I passed out... and my arm was wounded," she cautiously explained.

The blonde nurse gave her an inviting smile, nodding at her words.

"Very good assessment. Now do you know why this evaluation is necessary?"

"No," she lied.

"Well then I shall enlighten you," the nurse answered, her voice smooth and soft.

She was so calm, too pleasant in a sense. Maybe it was in her job description to be that way.

"You were facing off against your cousin in the chunin exams, you do remember that right?"

Hinata stayed quiet, hoping that it was a rhetorical question. The blonde looked up from her board with a curved brow. Maybe it wasn't...

"Is he... is he alright?" she eventually forced out as she took in the expectancy on the nurse's face.

"Hmf, he is managing. You did a good amount of damage on his chakra points. Not to mention the toxicity in his cells, no doubt caused by the poison," she coolly explained and Hinata was unsure whether she was judging her, complimenting her or just neutrally stating facts.

"I- I didn't mean to go that far! I promise," she anxiously blurted out.

The blonde gave her sigh and her face could almost be described as remorseful.

"How far did you mean to take it then, after all... you weren't willing to give up the antidote upon command," she prodded, searching the girl's opal eyes.

Hinata bowed her head, feeling suddenly how heavy it was. The nurse semi-mirrored her movements, trying in vain to maintain eye-contact. Hinata felt too warm and uncomfortable to sit still, yet she forced her limbs to stay in place. She was hesitant and anxious. But most of all, sad and scared.

"I didn't..." she tried to form a coherent sentence. "I-I thought it was t-too late already, I didn't want him to suffer more and I just, I- I couldn't move..."

her voice trembled out of her mouth, hesitant and meek.

The nurse was quiet for a short while.

"You must have been in shock," she deduced.

Uncertainly, Hinata looked up at her and watched her write something down on her board.

"I wasn't m-murderous in my intent, i-i don't want Neji-niisan to d-die," she whispered, almost sounding pleading.

The blonde gave her another sigh, nodding along with her words.

"I understand that," she said patiently, understandingly but Hinata wondered how much of it was an act.

"I will write your reaction off as shock," she concluded as she scribbled something down on her board.

Hinata was about to thank her for that but quickly swallowed the damning words down. Instead, she just nodded, biting her tongue to the point where it tasted copper in her mouth.

She was allowed to leave after that. Her father and his two "henchmen" for lack of a better word, stood waiting for her on the other side of the door. With the nurse leading the way, they all left in somber silence to check up on Neji.

He wasn't awake when they saw him. He laid passed out in the white hospital bed, as pale as the sheets he rested on. He was hooked up on a blood bag, going into his arm.

"Most of his injuries were internal and he's lost a lot of blood, the boy," the nurse explained, walked around the bed to check on the machine at his side that recorded his pulse.

Hinata stayed silent and stepped a bit back, opting to stay behind her father and the jounins. She didn't want to see the face of Neji right now, or even that of her father's.

"When will he wake up?" Hiashi asked.

"Soon, once he is stable. Maybe later in the night or tomorrow."

Listening with half an ear, Hinata glanced out the window to assess that it was indeed evening. The blonde nurse put the clipboard down on the table that the machine rested on. She proceeded to open the drawer under it.

"Hinata-san, your belongings," she said, as she took out a familiar violet holster, along with the brown belt that came with it.

"Oh thank you," Hinata got out, quickly grasping them.

She had begun to wonder where those had been, she only had one scroll holster and it had been a gift from Sasori as well, along with the belt.

At first, it had been rather difficult to come up with imaginary people who had given her the presents that Sasori would shower her with. So when Hinata had been pressed on the issue,some years ago now, she had stupidly said that she didn't know… Now the prospect of her having a persistent but secret admirer, basically became a meme over the years. Something her friends teased her about, but she knew they all wondered and continuously speculated on the matter. She knew her father thought it odd as well…

Shaking her thoughts aside, Hinata let her nimble fingers slide open the hatch and she soon came to realise that her holster was empty.

"Where is my scroll?!" she exclaimed in shocked distress, more to herself than anyone else.

Nevertheless, she looked up and met the blue eyes of the nurse, her own white ones were no doubt heavy with questions.

"Is it not there? I am very certain that it was when we confiscated it," the blonde responded, looking flabbergasted as her glossy lips laid open in a silent "oh".

"No it-it's just gone..."

the nurse bent down and checked the drawer again, feeling around with her hand and seemingly inspecting every inch of it.

"Are you sure you put it back in after-?"

"Yes I am sure of that, I always do," Hinata cut her off before she could finish, she was starting to become increasingly frustrated with the situation.

"It doesn't matter, it's good that it's gone now since you are obviously not supposed to meddle around in puppetry Hinata," her father asserted as he craned his neck and looked down on her, his arms crossed.

His narrowed, icy cold eyes seemed way too piercing, way too unfeeling. Merciless in how they so obviously looked her up and down before a grimace of disapproval clad his stony face. She swallowed thickly and looked away, keeping her mouth shut. It was easier that way. Better that way.

It was safer to duck away like a submissive dog with its tail between its legs than to stand her ground and make her disagreements known. Hinata didn't dare to do such a thing, especially since they were in public. If she did, he would just give her a piece of his mind once they got home, all for talking back to him in front of others. She knew from experience that such things always ticked him off more than anything else.

"Let us go home, it's late as it is," her father continued, taking one last look at the sleeping Neji.

They left the hospital in silence and that silence became louder and louder the closer they got to the Hyuga compound. Once they got home, the two jounins scurried off to god knows where and she was left alone with her father in the gardens of the main family. She wished they would've stayed.

The evening was a chilly one. A compact darkness creeped around the compound. The shadows seemed to dance around the numerous yellow lanterns that dangled in a lazy wobble from the trees and houses. She stayed silent, waiting for her father to speak, preferably to dismiss her. But she knew she wasn't so lucky.

"I was surprised today Hinata. I fully expected you to lose. Spectacularly so," he said monotonously as he took a few steps over to the koi pond.

He placed his hands in his pockets, the sliding noises from his flak jacket was the only sound he gave away as he stared into the water.

"But I am still not happy or even content with how you went about it. Rumours and gossip spread faster than any disease. People talk, you know. They will talk of how you took down your superior cousin by cheating, by using poisons. You. The heir of this noble, ancient clan," he almost spat out the words at her, his tongue sharper than any blade, his voice strained like the cord on a guitar.

"To think that you would use puppets and poisons instead of the techniques you were practically born to wield, it's not only pathetic but an embarrassment as well. Cheap tricks are not for people like us and I'll be damned if I let you disgrace our clan more than you already have," he finally said, snapping his head up and fixing his angry, glowing eyes on her.

"I-I'm sorry..." she timidly got out as he began walking back to her, his hands leaving his pockets.

"I even heard that you were unwilling in giving Neji the antidote to your blasted poison, that's another embarrassment that we probably won't see the end of."

"I-I was in shock-"

Her words were cut off by a hard slap across her cheek, right at her bruise. Her head snapped to the side with a noticeable crack and her mouth swung open in a quiet yelp. It hurt so much but she managed to stay put, without making a scene.

"Do you think I care about that?" he asked, curving his lip in what most people would perceive as pure disgust.

She shook her head, feeling cold. She stood with her shoulders down and face turned away, unmoving. Even unwilling to breathe too much in his presence, for fear that he might take offence at that. She wondered how her mother ever could have married such a cruel man. It had to be arranged.

"Let's get one thing straight Hinata. You only won over your cousin because of that poison. In other words, you cheated to win. Neji is still the superior one, a prodigy when it comes to the gentle fist. You are not. You are nothing compared to him. It is truly unfortunate that you are my firstborn. I hope you fail at the next stage of the exams because you don't deserve to be chunin. But for appearances sake, it is better that you win. I don't want you to embarrass this name to the point where we have to change it entirely due to your folly."

She nodded once more, for she had lost her voice. If she tried to speak now, she would just start crying. Or say the wrong thing.

"Look at me."

Biting her quivering lip, Hinata slowly raised her head and hesitantly took in his cold expression. His great hand was just one big blur as it came up and once again struck her across the cheek. At the same damn place, only harder this time. She gasped in pain and lost her balance as her vision blurred with tears. She fell down in a seated position, holding her sore, bruised cheek. It stung and nearly pulsed with excruciating endeavour.

The tears came freely now, streaming down her cheeks. Her whole chest hurt as her breath hitched, shaken from her quiet sobs. Behind her, she could clearly see how her father merely stared at her crumpled form, before he turned around and began to take his leave.

"Get that healed tomorrow," he said over his back as he ascended the stairs, sliding open a door and shutting it close behind him.

Her byakugan was activated... that would explain her clarity, since she was literally facing the ground but was still able to see him clearly. It must have activated itself as an instinctive response at being slapped so hard. Hinata couldn't care less about that at the moment.

If she asked Sasori to take her away from here... would he? No... it would be too much of a risk. She was the heiress to a very powerful and influential clan in Konoha and she possessed the byakugan. They would search for her, most likely. Her eyes would make her easy to find as well. And even though she almost couldn't stand her clan, she didn't want to leave her friends, or Kurenai, or Konoha as a whole. Despite it all, she still loved her home.

Sasori had said that she would have a month of training before the final stage would begin. He would train her himself... She could hardly wait. It gave her a purpose to pull through, to endure the hardships. Slowly rising up, Hinata held her cheek and dried her tears. In silence, she made her way to her room.

Even though she had won the fight with Neji-niisan, she didn't feel like a winner, she felt like a failure. At least, Sasori was proud. That's the only thing that counted. His approval was all she needed to face the upcoming days.

...

It wasn't easy to find someone based on Hinata's description alone. But hard work never failed to deliver. He was in the guise of a random leaf shinobi, sitting on a rooftop, overlooking the crowded bar below. His target was outside, smoking a joint with his friends. The scar made him stand out and it was much bigger than what he'd imagined. His name was Akihito, or that's what his companions called him. He decided to wait and bide his time. He hated to be kept waiting but the evening was a nice one and the stars were out. It was acceptable.

In the end, Akihito was the first one to leave his party, which was stupid of him and thus, all the better for the puppet master. He stalked him down a desolate alleyway, making sure to confront him before he could exit out of it.

He struck him, hard and fast at the back of his head, rendering him disoriented and clumsy. Dropping the jagged rock he'd used as his tool, the puppet master pulled out the syringe he'd prepared for special occasions such as these. He grabbed the shinobis shirt with his free hand and ruthlessly kicked him in his ribs.

The man let out a strained scream, which the Akatsuki member silenced with his fist. He allowed the man to fall, hitting the ground in a spectacular fashion. Why was this so easy? Wasn't this a jounin? The brief whiff of weed greeted his nose and he thus had his answer. The man was still very much high, probably.

Without wasting too much time, he skilfully pushed the needle into Akihito's artery, keeping him pressed to the ground with his knee on his back. After all, he knew he wanted to take his time with this one, preferably un-disturbed. And so, Sasori thought it best to inject him with a knockout serum. Strong enough shock to the system, rendering a person unconscious in only a matter of seconds.

With the shinobi out like a light by his feet, he went about his business. Akihito wasn't a very tall or muscular fellow. He would be pretty easy to carry if he pumped chakra into his arms. So he rolled his victim up in an old carpet he'd found in a garbage container nearby. As efficiently as possible, he swung the hidden body over his shoulder and prepared his flight.

It was almost too easy, getting away with these things... Apparently, the leaf ninjas were slagging behind immensely on their homeland security, or they just strived to be as useless as possible. They were too comfortable, too sure of themselves. Too confident, which ultimately led to a bad case of a boastful arrogance...

Once Sasori got back to his workshop, he disarmed and dumped the unconscious ninja in the basement. He chained him up against the wall, with chakra-draining handcuffs. He gagged him with a rag and sealed the door locked and shut. Sasori hadn't decided yet what to do about the man. He wasn't worthy of being a puppet, so his primary purpose could be that of a test subject. Either way, he wasn't in a hurry to drain Akihito's life. Calmly, the puppet master went up the stairs and took a seat at one of his tables.

Rummaging around in his bag, he pulled out Hinata's scroll. He thought it best to repair "Hana" now, while he still had the time. After all, she must be wondering where her beloved puppet would be by now.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hello you beautiful people! I'm back and I have been buzzing with enthusiasm for this fic in the past several days. I've been daydreaming nonstop, playing around with different storylines and concepts in my head, keeping myself busy. But I've been writing a lot as well. I went back and rewrote some chapters to touch up on mistakes and to include Haruko more. I will try to be consistent for now but I have no clue when my next depressive crash may come so hahaha, looking forward to that lmao**

**By no means am I hanging by a thread but… If I disappear in the future again, you will know why! XD Anyways, for some reason, I am not totally happy with this chapter but i will try not to be too hard on myself. **

**Happy reading! xoxo**

**Chapter 12**

The past two days had been brutal. Ruthless training from 7 o'clock to 9 pm. Practicing the gentle fist and the numerous techniques surrounding it.

While it had been draining, it had it perks (aside from the obvious improvements she made). It kept her busy.

She trained on various spots in the woods at the compound. It relentlessly all kept her away from friends and even her family. Which was good. Because she felt like she really couldn't handle more than five minutes of human interaction. Everyone had so many questions all the time... she grew sick off it.

Neji hadn't been the only one to have been hospitalised from the previous stage. Apparently Sasuke was too.

She'd heard that the Uchiha boy had been attacked. Though she didn't know the details of it, she knew he was still alive and kicking. Not only that, but Lee had suffered greatly at the hands of Gaara. He too was in the hospital.

Just the mere thought of the youngest sand sibling left a bad taste in her mouth. He was beyond frightening. From what she'd seen in the forest of death, he truly was a ruthless killer. A sociopath.

She felt bad for Lee but at least he was still alive, albeit greatly injured. Hinata's battle had been the first one so she hadn't witnessed the others.

But from what she'd heard, Naruto won over Kiba. So he would be going to the tournament, along with Sasuke, Shikamaru, the sand siblings, Haruko, Shino and herself.

Hinata supposed she was happy for Haruko. She heard that the redhead had bested one of the sound ninjas, Kinuta dosu. That was an impressive feat.

"Hinata" Kiba's voice awoke her from her musings.

Startled, she rose up from where she had been seated, stretching her limbs. Out from the bushes, appeared her teammate with Akamaru joyfully jumping after him.

"They're requesting you back at the arena, all of the winners have already gathered, I think it will be revealed who your opponent will be!" he said excitedly and motioned for her to follow him.

She immediately did.

"Oh my, is Shino-san already there?"

"Yup, they all are, it took some time for me to find you, you know..." he answered, giving her a curious look.

"Aha sorry, I-I've been a bit busy I suppose..." she explained, biting her cheek.

"No worries, I figured that you might need some time alone," he answered, granting her a soft smile.

"Eh?"

"Well i just mean, we all saw the battle you had with Neji, it was very intense. Me, Shino and the others figured that you might have been feeling bad for dragging him through the mud like that. So we thought that giving you some space might be for the best," Kiba addressed, being careful with his words as he took in Hinata's face.

Hinata's cheeks turned pink and she hung her head down in shame.

"I really d-did not mean for him to become so injured... I-I do feel guilty because o-of it," she confessed with a heavy sigh.

Kiba took a hold of her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"We know, and really Hinata, anyone with half a brain could see that you did not mean for it to go that far, besides that's what happens in battles. No one in their right mind would put all the blame on you!" he reassured her with a bashful smile.

She almost tripped over a log since their eye contact took up too much of her focus. His eyes looked soft, not judgemental at all. They seemed understanding.

Kiba had always been humble in his own ways and she was grateful for having such a supportive teammate.

Between him and Shino, she had always felt closer to the Inuzuka boy, although she considers both of her teammates as close friends.

"Thank you Kiba-kun... but even so, it was mainly my fault," she said then, blushing slightly but already feeling much lighter in her soul.

"No way! That twat got what he deserved, he was so mean to you! I mean he was really awful Hinata, all you did was to prove him wrong," Kiba exclaimed and Akamaru howled in agreement. "You kicked ass Hinata!"

She couldn't help as a laugh bubbled out between her pink lips. It rang out of her like church bells would, carefree and mirthful.

Warmth spread through her insides at the mere notion that Kiba had just called Neji a twat. Maybe he did deserve what he got...

"Kiba-kun," she got out in between her giggles.

She stopped in her tracks and grabbed a hold of his arm. With no warning, she threw her arms around him in a quick hug.

He seemed to tense up under touch at first but then immediately relaxed and hugged her back.

"Thank you f-for being on my side," she said, her smile never leaving her sunlit face.

"Tssk, don't mention it silly, I'll always be on your side," he said by her ear, with an almost nervous chuckle.

As they parted, she could see that his cheeks were almost as red as the paint he had under his eyes. She found it quite adorable that he would blush.

Blushing was something she did quite often herself, uncontrollably so. It was rather funny to see others do it though.

"Oh shoot! We should probably hurry," he suddenly burst out, eyebrows raised high.

She nodded as they both started to sprint through the woods.

"Good idea!"

Before long, they arrived at the arena. Kiba was left at the entrance, giving her a reassuring pat on her back.

They all stood there gathered in a semi circle. The Hokage, Ibiki, Genma and Anko were at the centre of it. All heads turned at the sound of her footsteps.

Hinata didn't appreciate being stared at but the comforting smiles Naruto and Shino gave her made it a bit easier.

She came to stand at Shino's side and he whispered a low "Hi" to her. She greeted him back but it got drowned out by an ear-splitting cough from the Hokage, drawing all of their attention.

"Now that you are all here, we can finally begin," he said, his voice assertive and precise. "The final stage is where all of you will show off your skills in front of everyone. I want each and everyone of you to satisfactorily demonstrate and show off your ability as representative battle forces of your respective lands. Accordingly, the final stage will commence one month from now."

"W- we're not going to do it here right now?!" Naruto suddenly cut in and she glanced over at his puzzled face.

"No of course not. This month will be a necessary period for preparations and training. Much needed time for you to analyse what you have learned about the adversaries in the preliminaries," the elderly man explained, taking a drag from his pipe.

Loud groans and curses arose from the group, but Hinata of course stayed silent. She already knew that there would be a month of training, since Sasori had told her so.

"Now listen up! There is one final thing you must do before you may take your leave," the Hokage continued, a small smile grazing his wrinkled features.

"Let's get on with it so we can get to training!" Naruto blurted out in frustration, earning an annoyed glare from Haruko at his side.

"I'd like you all to take a slip of paper from the box Anko is holding." The Hokage said in response.

Anko walked up to each and everyone of them with a brown box in her hands, a grin plastered on her angular face.

"Take only one," she said as she went around in order.

Once they all had picked their paper, unfolding them to reveal a number, Ibiki addressed the group;

"Good, everyone has taken a number. Now from left to right, tell me the number on your slip of paper!"

"I'm eight," said Haruko.

"I'm one," continued Naruto.

"Nine," said Temari

"Five" said Kankuro

"Three" said Gaara.

"Two," claimed Shikamaru

"Six," said Shino.

Hinata looked down at her own number. "Seven," she concluded, opting to keep her gaze on the ceiling.

"Then Sasuke would be four," Ibiki commented, scribbling something down on his board.

"Bring forth the pairings," commanded the Hokage and Ibiki immediately turned the board around.

Now everyone could see that their number decided their opponent. Naruto being one would face off against two; which was Shikamaru.

Gaara being three would face Sasuke, Kankuro would meet Shino and... Hinata herself would meet none other than Haruko. Whoever would win between the two of them would fight against Temari.

A nervous lump took form in her throat. She turned sideways and met the surprised eyes of Haruko. They both stared at each other, ignoring the noises around them. She clenched her jaw and gave the redhead a small nod. Haruko returned the motion, her lips set in tight line.

Not long after that, they were dismissed.

**...**

Another two days passed before Sasori visited her again. Now, they were both sitting high up in a tree, hidden amongst the leaves as they observed the training grounds below.

Specifically, one red haired kunoichi, fighting with her teammate. It had been Sasori's idea to spy on Haruko and learn more of her fighting style.

He was currently in the guise of the nameless Hyuga that he donned sometimes. The same appearance he'd worn when he came to collect her once in her own home, many years ago now.

"She is skilled with Genjutsus," Sasori commented above her.

Hinata was seated on his knee, as he held a pair of branches out of the way so that she could see better.

"She will most likely use that on you," he said again, watching as Haruko's opponent suddenly became frantic.

The boy she had been fighting suddenly started to jump around, scratching himself all over and crying out in panic.

"I think he believes there's something in his clothes..." Hinata said slowly as she took in the poor fellow, rolling around on the ground.

"Probably ants or something bigger, nastier. Genjutsus vary in how real they can seem, it all depends on how advanced the ninja is," Sasori coolly explained, resting his head on top of hers.

"Would you say that Haruko is pretty a-advanced?" Hinata asked, craning her neck and gazing up at her teacher with big opal eyes.

"She has a gift but i don't think i would use the word "advanced" on her. She is pretty skilled for her age though," he said, keeping his eyes on the redhead before he looked down at her with a smirk. "You will have your hands full with this one, doll."

Hinata sighed at that and pouted.

"Nothing is easy nowadays..."

Sasori drew his lips back in disapproval at that.

"Were it to be easy, it would be meaningless. You wouldn't grow and improve, you would just stay the same. Every hard lesson is learned with a slide pain. Learning is painful, improving is painful, but the more you struggle, the stronger you become," the puppet master lectured to his student.

Hinata turned to face him more fully, she had something on her mind.

"But what if I... What if i'm not-"

"Good enough? Strong enough?" Sasori finished for her, raising his brows at the sight of her hesitant face.

"Is this doubt I see? After you demonstrated your abilities so well against your cousin, doubting yourself is the last thing you should do Hinata. Honestly, you are the master of your own fate. The only limits you have are the ones your mind makes up due to fear of failing. You have already proven your doubts wrong Hinata, I know you can do it again. And even if you fail in the future, it is nothing to be ashamed of, it is nothing to fear. It's just a gift masquerading as a setback, allowing you to learn from your mistakes," the puppeteer concluded, trying to soften his tone a bit but keeping it stern.

The child on his lap seemed awestruck with his words as she allowed them to sink in. Her eyes became a bit brighter as a grin adorned her lips. She swung her feet back and forth, a tad bit playful.

"T-that makes so much sense now that I-I think of-" her words got cut off as she tried to turn around to face him more fully, she promptly lost her balance.

She toppled over to the side with a shocked yell. Alarmed, he quickly let go of the branches and skilfully caught her around the waist, keeping her upright once more.

"Shh," he hushed her as his arm around her waist pulled her closer to him, so that she wasn't sitting on the edge of his knee anymore and challenging fate.

"I figured you would lose your balance soon enough," he confessed in her ear, shaking his head.

"S-sorry, I wasn't planning on it..." she got out, leaning her little head on his chest.

"We should go and train now before it becomes too late, I have repaired Hana for you," Sasori said then.

Hinata became alert at that and swiftly turned her head around.

"Was it you who took her?!"

"Of course."

She let out a deep sigh, sagging against his chest one again.

"Thank god, I-I thought i'd lost her," she said, putting a hand on her chest.

He smiled a little at that.

"I will take you to one of my underground workshops, I actually have a reward for you there."

She gave a gasp in delighted excitement at that.

He decided to take her to one of his newer bases. One with no chained up Akihito in its basement or other disturbances that would scare the daylights out of his pupil.

Along the way there, he had dropped his guise and now looked like himself. Although he had taken certain care to not wear his akatsuki cloak around her. That would just come with unnecessary questions, he wasn't too keen on answering yet.

They were walking now amongst the trees, having passed out of Konoha's gates a while ago.

"Hinata," he said, catching her attention.

"Hm?"

"We are going to jump through the trees in order to save time, it's pretty far away but it won't take long at all if we are resourceful, so jump on my back," he explained, his voice neutral as he rested a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

"You s-sure? I can jump too you know," she responded, blinking up at him innocently.

"I know you can, doll. But I am much faster than you, so it would be more efficient that way," he said to her in a stern but understanding manner that left no room for argue.

"Alright then," she huffed out with a nod.

He knelt down as she crawled unto his back and fastened her arms around his neck.

"Try not to choke me will you?" he addressed as he took a hold under her legs and rose up.

"A-alright just don't drop me-" she barely managed to say before they shot forwards up into the trees.

Her sentence collapsed into a high pitched giggle as they flew forwards. He was hit with an extreme deja vu from when he had first carried her and jumped through the trees.

How peculiar and strange was it, that the sound of her girlish laugh had barely changed in all these years. But she was still a child after all... but still.

Would it ever change? Would Hinata sound different as she grew older? A part of him hoped not, a part of him wanted her to remain as gullible as she was now, as pure as she was now.

Even so, another part of him looked forward to the development of her character and personality. If only her laugh could stay the same.

**...**

Nostalgia was bittersweet, though Hinata wasn't sure why. Maybe it was bittersweet because it was just out of her grasp. She couldn't relive her memories after all. She couldn't go back to moments lost in time, to a younger mind.

But as she sat on Sasori's back and felt the wind through her hair, she almost felt as if nothing had changed.

As if the wind was the same the first time he'd carried her. After all, the trees were the same shade of green, the sky the same shade of blue.

Sasori smelled of the same old leathery scent. A scent of parchment, candles, smoke, ink and wood. He smelled of home. Curiously enough.

Their flight lasted for about fifteen minutes or so. They landed with a heavy thump, right at the foot of a big cave, sticking out of the mountain that had found its home in the forest.

He crouched down and she stepped off him, feeling how her legs ached from being in such a position for too long. She needed some stretching.

"Come on," he said, motioning for her to follow him with a nod of his head.

And so she did, scurrying up behind him as he walked up to the cave and stepped inside. The shadows grew larger and larger the deeper inside they went and she hadn't expected it to be so roomy in there. But it was and it was pretty fascinating.

They continued walking and by now it was so dark that she could hardly make out anything at all. That became all the more apparent as she ungraciously bumped into her companion.

"Sasori I-I can hardly see at all," she said out into the darkness, grabbing his arm.

"It's funny you should say that considering your heritage, doll," he answered, taking her hand and leading her forward. "Anyways, we are here now."

Hinata reached out to confirm that it was in fact a wall in front of her.

"But it's just a-"

"Not any wall" he cut her off, "This one is special. Take a step back."

She did as she was told and stepped back, a little frown on her white face. His flak jacket gave away a few sliding sounds as he seemingly performed a couple of hand signs. Then he bit his thumb and slammed his hands on the wall, like one did when summoning something out of a scroll.

All at once, the wall seemed to quake and tremble, rocks falling away and one hit her toe. Thousand needles of pain went through her foot but she bit her cheek and ignored it. Instead she tried to focus on the stone wall that strangely seemed to change shape.

Sasori's hands started to glow bright red, lighting up the wall and she watched with awe as it seemed to morph mysteriously.

It morphed into some clay-like substance, that swirled around and split apart. It formed an opening and she stepped closer, looking down into the entrance that carved itself into existence.

"Wicked..." she breathed out as she saw stairs rising up from the descending pathway, leading straight down into the mountain.

"I know, it wasn't easy making this," he said above her, proudly so.

Everything shone red from his chakra induced hands, his hair looked like a bright red blood moon, utterly crimson.

"I-I can see why," she confessed, following after him as he took the lead down the stairs, happy she could clearly see the steps in the red glow.

"I designed it so that the structure would recognise my chakra signature and trace it. So soon you will see that wall reform again," he uttered and almost immediately the structure seemed to respond to his wishes.

The pathway shook nearly tremendously so as the wall re-morphed into existence behind them, sealing them inside. Nevertheless, they continued to walk and Hinata busied herself with trying to make her own hands glow.

She focused intently on her chakra, trying to channel it through her hands. Soon enough, as they came upon the final step and had reached the bottom, her hands did start to shine into brilliant blue.

"Sasori!" she exclaimed in excitement as she inspected her glowing hands.

He swiftly turned at the sound of her girlish yell, expecting another crisis but was pleasantly surprised. He took in her shining hands with a growing, askew grin.

"Oh look at that, your signature is blue," he said, raising his eyebrows as he stepped closer to her.

He took a hold of her hands with his own red ones, inspecting them further. The colour suited her but she would look much better in red. He would make sure to buy her red things in the future.

"Is it your first time doing this?"

She nodded with a wide grin. Her eyes met his and there was a glimpse of something in them but it might as well have been the light from their hands.

"Most people your age would need at least a couple of more attempts but you did it on your first try, you truly are something else," he flattered her, dissolving the red glow from his own hands.

"T-thanks... You know that time you showed me fire and wind m-manipulation?" she hesitantly asked, she wasn't sure if he remembered it since it was so long ago now.

Sasori seemed puzzled at first, creasing his eyebrows. They both walked deeper into the lair and Hinata couldn't help but let her gaze wander. The room before them was big, dimly lit up by oil lanterns hanging from the walls. The floorboards under them creaked slightly upon each step.

Tables could be seen close to the walls, littered with tools, weapons and bits and pieces of different puppets. There were bookshelves as well, some filled with books and others filled with jars, bottles, syringes, different boxes and plastic bags with white powder in them and all sorts of organic material.

Some looked to contain different plants, minerals, herbs, powders and whatnot. Drugs maybe? Probably. Maybe he used this stuff to create new poisons.

"You must mean this," Sasori suddenly said, waking her from her observations.

He raised his hand and a bright orange flame sprung forth and danced upon his palm. It twisted and coiled around like that of a snake.

She walked closer to him to get a better look. It actually seemed to resemble that of a cobra, swinging its head back and forth.

"Exactly! I hoped you could t-teach me," she responded gleefully as she looked up at his face.

"I plan to. But that will have to wait for another day, we have other things on our to do list today... However, which element do you think you have a natural affinity to?"

"My clan is a-accustomed to lightning release but I can also use water and e-even fire sometimes but that's a little bit trickier," Hinata explained, cocking her head to the side, trying with all her might not to stammer too much.

"That's more than what I expected, let's see then! Do something here and now," Sasori asserted, a challenging grin on his stern face.

"A-alright, but in order for me to create water release, I-I kinda have to have water near me... I haven't learned yet how to turn my chakra into it yet," she said, dissolving the glow from her hands.

"That's understandable. Do lightning instead then."

She nodded at that. That she could do.

Her hands still buzzed with chakra and she used that to her advantage. She focused intently on channeling it, making it vibrate beneath her skin.

The tension built up and finally small, white sparks were emitted from her quivering fingers.

"Raiton," she said with a steady voice, communicating with the force she felt in her hands.

As she spoke, an electric, blinding and blue light utterly engulfed her hands and meticulously climbed up her right arm. It was coiling around wildly, emitting sparks as it swirled around her arm and hands. Intensely so.

Sasori looked down at her, the blue sparks reflecting in his eyes. He took a certain interest in how her eyes became even more illuminated as they reflected the brilliant lightning she'd coaxed forth. The sparks danced around her in an almost ethereal manner. The electricity manipulated the tips of her black strands, making them stand up and sway back and forth in a lazy waltz.

"This is a pleasing sight to see," he said, earning a wonderful teeth-filled smile from her.

He walked around her, his eyes leaching intently upon her form.

"We are going to hone your abilities with lightning release, eventually you might be able to combine it with the gentle fist. I have no doubt in my mind that you will win against Haruko. You just need to be more potent at dispelling Genjutsus first."

Hinata's smile grew at that. The puppet master was nothing short of elated at this development.

If she could learn how to incorporate her lightning release with her Taijutsus, she would be twice as deadly. In the future, she might even succeed at storm release if she mastered water as well. Time would tell but if he played her right, she would be utterly devoted to him as much as she would be powerful. He wouldn't settle for anything less.

"Dispel that now, before you cause some real harm to my hard work here."

His voice had a teasing nature to it but a real tone of seriousness could still be heard.

She understood why though. Lightning release could be hard to control and she sure as hell wasn't near to mastering it yet. However, with Sasori's help, that would only be a matter of time.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Hello my loves! I'm back at it again, risen up from the dead with a fresh chapter. I'm practically beaming with pride for this one, I don't know why but I really like how it turned out. Of course it can always be better but then again, so can all things. I choose to be happy with what I got and not torment myself over what could have been, or at least I try to. We all do. I hope you guys are faring well and my heart goes out to you all! Itachi and Sasori will become two unlikely companions in the future, drawn together by fate and shared interests. I hope it's not too much of a spoiler to admit that, but that's exactly what I'm trying to stitch together here. Anyways, happy reading and I'm sorry about the delay but I just started playing WOW again and my goodness am I having a great time with the Suramar questline! Let me know if anyone of you play Warcraft as well, maybe we can play together sometime XD xoxo**

**Chapter 13 **

She was sitting on a table, dangling her feet back and forth, feeling like she was on cloud nine. Spending time with Sasori never failed in making her feel accomplished and capable. He filled her with self-respect and it was a stark difference from when she was alone, suffering under her father's bitter gaze. She just needed to figure out how to feel strong on her own, without the puppet master's supportive presence.

Said puppet master was currently rummaging around in a scroll-filled basket. Then he seemed to have found his price. He pulled out a medium sized scroll and she immediately recognised it as Hana. She was about to make her gratitude known when a grimace settled over Sasori's face. He was looking down at something, albeit not the scroll in his hands.

"You toe is bleeding, doll," he said with a questionable look in his eye.

She glanced down to assess that he was in fact correct.

"It must have been the stone..." she muttered as she took in her bloody big toe, staining her sandals.

She hadn't even realised she was wounded down there.

The puppeteer knelt down, shaking his head. He grabbed a hold of her foot and started to heal her split toe. As he had done so many times before with her injuries. Hinata managed a bashful smile.

"I promise to be more careful next time," she said even though it hadn't been her fault that the stone had seemingly decided to split her toe open.

"You have to be more attentive to yourself. If it hurts somewhere, you better look at it," Sasori answered in that matter of fact kinda tone that was so like him.

As soon as her toe was healed, they gathered up their things and left to rejoin the nature above.

The rest of the day was spent in the clearing just outside the cave. From the scroll holsters at his waist, he brought forth the same medium sized scroll he had collected back in the lair.

"Here you got Hana, all restored. I've even added some new features to her, I'll leave you to discover those on your own," he said, tossing the scroll to her.

Hinata caught her scroll with an easy smile, happy to finally be reunited with her beloved puppet. She was already itching to try her out once more. She longed to discover what upgrades he'd gifted her with.

"You won't be doing much with Hana today. You have used her for more than a year now and obviously know her like the back of your hand." Sasori explained to her, already knowing what her hopeful smile had been about.

Hinata gave him a confused look, and a little disappointed one.

"But-"

"We are going to focus more on Genjutsus from now on. I need you to perform adequately against Haruko, preferably more than that. How much training have you had with Genjutsus so far, Hinata?"

She bit her chin, thinking back on the brief overview and training they had back at academy.

"Not much at all..."

"Great! Then we will start from scratch. Sit down," he motioned for her to take a seat on the missy rock before him.

She did.

"Just like with Taijutsus, Genjutsus fall into different ranks, D, C, B, S, which determines the advancement of said illusion. At their lowest scale, Genjutsus are used as slight misleading things like tampering with ones perception of time. These types typically only effect one or two senses. From what I've gathered, Haruko seems to be more skilled with auditory and visual hallucinations. At least she prefers to use those more. Time-tampering Genjutsus are generally very hard to control and someone of her age and skill set would have a hard time grasping such an ability, but I wouldn't rule it out."

Sasori's voice carried through the air, heavy with expertise. He had started to circle around her, as he did from time to time. Sometimes, although only sometimes, it made Hinata feel like a trapped, little animal. Especially when he got that strange look on his face. That calculating, dissecting gaze, his eyes would don when he plotted something. Or maybe when he had machiavellian thoughts...

"How do I dispel them?" Hinata asked, craning her neck around and trying to catch his stare.

His eyes gleamed into amber as a sunbeam descended upon it. His lean lips, becoming that of an askew smirk.

"I was just getting to that. Those who are a natural when it comes to Genjutsus, like Haruko for example, have an affinity for Yin release. Genjutsus are commonly created by implanting Yin chakra in ones brain through someone hearing or smelling something that carries that said Yin chakra. The ninja can dispel it by pushing their own chakra into their brain, flushing the foreign one out. Gripping sensations from the real world, like pain for instance, are also known to be very effective as a dispelling mechanism."

He paused to kneel down in front of her.

"Think of it like this. Genjutsus are created by inducing a controlled modification in your target's chakra flow, which somehow alters their perception of the world. It is all based on your intention. This is why the easiest way to rid oneself of most illusions is to interrupt and reboot one's own chakra flow. Much like how you might switch a computer off and on again when it hits a snag: the rebooted chakra flow is not affected by the genjutsu."

"This makes more sense than what they told us at the A-Academy..." Hinata responded, raising her eyebrows a bit.

"That's Because I'm the one explaining it. School is nothing more than an indoctrination camp, albeit necessary to get to the next level. Hinata you are lucky to have me as your teacher, otherwise you might have been as brainwashed as your peers," Sasori explained in a vey casual manner, as if he was talking about the weather.

"What's an I-indoctrina-" she hesitatingly began, unnerved at his seemingly random switch of subject.

"I will tell you more about it when you're older. Now, as a Huyga, you must know how to control your own chakra flow right?" Sasori's voice was as imperious as ever, yet smooth at the same time.

He took a seat on a rock, his finger, doing a come hither motion towards her. She followed his whims.

"I can switch focus on my chakra from limb to limb and I-I know I can reboot it as well, my father taught me how to," Hinata answered, eager to show him.

"You will demonstrate that then. I create a mild genjutsu in the air around us. You will breathe it in and allow it to affect your senses, then you will reboot your chakra, thus dispelling it," Sasori asserted, nearly in what she could at best describe as excitement, his eyes had that glimpse of playfulness in them.

She eagerly nodded and took a little step back, trying to think of ways to prepare herself. Sasori's smile became wider and wider, showing more and more teeth and was struck with how unusual it was for him to smile that way. To smile quite that much... In her young and naive mind, she didn't detect the predatory glint that seemed to wash over his eyes, adhering to the contortion of his face.

His hand clenched itself in a tight fist before it unfolded itself, palm up. Swiftly, he blew air onto it as if he was blowing something off his hand towards her. Immediately, strong waft of copper engulfed her, so strong and so raw, it almost smelled like something was rotting. It smelled off blood. Hinata jumped back in surprise at the potency of such a smell, it was like she was standing right in front of something decomposing.

She did little to hinder the revulsed grimace that settled over her face. She was just about to dispel it when she noticed big blotches of blood, blooming out from beneath her clothes. They were all over her arms and legs. Lifting up her bleeding arm, she hissed out in distress as she realised that the horrible smell was coming from her wounds.

No wait. They couldn't be wounds for they weren't actually there. This was had to be of his creation. Looking back at the seated redhead, she took a defiant stance and put her palms together. A small chant left her lips as she breathed in the rotten odour, letting the heavy air fill up her chest and transmuting it. Then, she allowed her breath leak out of her. As her breath left her body, so too did the genjutsu. The illusion washed of off her like a wave on a stone.

Her point of attention, her focus went down from her head to her spine and feet, scanning her whole body. She could literally feel the chakra flow restart again in her veins. As she inhaled, the air was devoid any strange smells. It was pure and healthy again. It smelled of the forest.

Her little face guised that of an affronted look.

"I thought you said it would only be a scent...?

Sasori's grin had yet to fall, his eyes seemed to be laughing at her.

"Did I? Well, the element of surprise is crucial to a genjutsu, Haruko will try to be as shocking as possible."

Sasori dragged a hand through his hair before he opened a small bag he had by his side.

"You were pretty quick at dispelling it though, candy?"

His hand presented a caramel to her, bright red and tasty-looking.

She practically skipped up to him, bowing prettily as she picked up the candy and put it in her mouth. Sasori's eyes seemed to shine up in a rich copper-bronze as the sun passed over them once more.

"Now, this was a light genjutsu, only affecting scent and sight. Haruko might try to go for something bigger, if she is capable of that. Therefore I have called on a friend of mine who is a professional when it comes to conjuring up more potent genjutsus. He should be here soon, so I would advice you to sit down and rest in the meantime," Sasori explained to her, his excitement more tangible.

"Oh? Who is he? Is he k-kind?" Hinata got out as she took a seat by his knees.

She was a bit nervous upon meeting a new person, especially one of Sasori's friends.

"As long as you are courteous, I expect you to be that," he answered, allowing his hand to creep down and caress her head.

She leaned into his touch and came to rest her head on his leg. Relishing in the feeling of being scratched like a pet. Basking in his attention like a snake would on a sunny rock.

Her small hands cane to rest on his ankle, hugging his leg and practically beaming up at him.

"I'm so happy to have you," she said with an adoring look on her face.

"Yes, you are lucky to have me Hinata."

She was always one to cuddle, the little minx. His fingers moved down to her nape, before reluctantly leaving her warm skin.

His phone was buzzing with a new text message. Hinata reacted to his touch leaving her and looked up with her big eyes, following his movements intently. She saw as he took out his phone, his thumb moving across the screen.

It was Itachi.

"There in 5 min."

"Good. Remember what I said about the Sharingan, she cannot know who you are," he typed back.

"I won't turn it on," Itachi texted back.

"And your Akatsuki cloak and headband?"

"Not wearing them."

A satisfied smile grazed his features, good.

Putting away his phone, his smile grew as he took in the eager face of his doll.

Hinata shivered a bit as his hand returned to her head, his fingers digging down into her black strands. For some inexplicable reason, he felt extra affectionate with her this day. Maybe it was the devotion he could so clearly see in her eyes.

Hinata allowed her cheek to sag even more against his leg, she closed her eyes in bliss as he massaged her skull.

Then a twig snapped behind them and she flinched at the sound. Sasori threw a glance over his shoulder, deducing that it was in fact Itachi. The girl at his feet, drew his leg even closer to her as she looked over his knee, directing her opal eyes towards their guest.

Itachi's black eyes were glued onto her own white ones. The oldest Uchiha wasn't sure what to expect when he agreed to help the puppet master, but a scene like this certainly wasn't it.

In silence he walked around the pair, taking in the way the little girl was practically clinging onto Sasori's leg. His hand was in her hair and the young Huyga gave the redhead a look, as if she was looking for some guidance.

His hand at the back of her head gave her nudge.

"Introduce yourself Hinata," he commanded, with a shockingly gentle voice.

Itachi almost did a double take at that. He didn't think the puppeteer was capable of using such a soft voice. Although he could tell that it was something very deliberate, because his normal voice had always had somewhat of a sharp tone.

The young heiress reluctantly let go off his leg. She stood up and hesitantly approached him.

"My name is Hinata," she slowly said, reaching out her hand, shyly so.

It would appear she had a difficult time with eye contact.

He took her hand and gave her smile, trying to think of ways to ease her nervousness.

"My name is Akira, Sasori has told me much about you," he said, ignoring the warning look Sasori gave him in the back.

"I-I hope only good things," the girl gave a giggle, daring to meet his eye but only for a few seconds.

"Of course, only good things. Are you ready to get to work?" Itachi said, not skipping a beat.

The girl nodded.

"Yes!"

**...**

Akira felt strangely familiar, though she was sure she had never seen him before. The things that stood out the most from him, aside from the strange familiarity, were his ring and nails. He had purple, short nails with a metal ring on his left hand, ring finger. The ring had a big red stone in it with the kanji of vermilion engraved on it with black letters. It was the same style as Sasori's. It boggled her mind but she knew this was not the time to ask questions.

They had started with rather simple genjutsus and worked their way up. The first one had been similar to Sasori's, a horrid smell dampened the air around her and then the earth under her started to morph into quicksand. She was quick with dispelling that one.

At the moment though she found herself dodging shurikens, coming at her from all sides. Of course it had to be apart of the genjutsu. Though as she was about to dispel it, she was promptly stopped. Looking down at her hands, she realised she didn't have any. Nothing but two bloody stumps stared back at her.

So incredibly bloody. A sharp shriek of terror rose in her throat like vomit and the sight of her stumps nearly made her want to throw up. How was she going to dispel anything when she didn't have hands?!

Stressed, she stumbled back, her lamentations never seizing.

"S-Sasori-san?!" she yelled out in distress.

No one was near, she was alone in the forest, tripping over feet, she fell uselessly to the ground.

She knew she was still in the genjutsu, but she didn't know how to get out of it this time. Bitter tears started to creep down her cheeks. Her active byakugan scanned the greenery around her. Alarmed, she witnessed a kunai, racing for her head off to her side. With a scream wrenching itself free from her throat, she ducked down and hid her head in her arms.

"Katsu," Akira's voice rang out somewhere above her, startling her.

She looked up and saw him standing there, looking down at her with a crease in his brow. She immediately gazed down to familiarise herself with her hands. Rubbing them together, she was glad to have them back.

"You made it fine this far, you just need some more practice," Akira said.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know how to dispel it without using hand signs..." Hinata forced out in humiliation, drying her tears with the back of her hand.

She didn't dare to look at Sasori, the shame was too great.

"That's something that we will have to work on Hinata," the puppet master commented as he came to stand at Akira's side.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on their boots.

"Hinata, I want you to look at me when I'm talking to you," his voice broke out again, sharper, more precise.

She jumped a bit and immediately raised her head, meeting her teacher's rusted eyes.

"S-Sorry, I..." she hesitated for a brief second, "I was ashamed."

Biting her lip, her uncertain white eyes, darted back and fort between Sasori's face and the tree at his side. It was always better to tell the truth, she knew that. But that didn't make it anymore pleasant.

"I know, doll. Don't be," Sasori answered in his usual heavy tone but this time, his eyes seemed rather soft.

"Your practice is over for the day, Go back to the estate and take a shower. I will join you shortly."

She needn't be told twice. Bowing swiftly to Akira and telling him a quick farewell, she jogged away, disappearing amongst the trees and bushes.

Itachi and the puppet master stayed silent until the sounds of the child had all but dissolved into the sounds of the wilderness.

"I like her, she has potential," Itachi uttered, breaking the silence.

Sasori walked back to the rock he'd been sitting on.

"I know. She will be a valuable asset," he responded as he once again took a seat on the boulder stuck in the ground.

He took out a small satchel full of coins, though he didn't do much with it.

"That's what concerns me," Itachi said, turning to face the puppet master more fully. "You have her wrapped around your finger."

Sasori kept his eyes on the object in his hands.

"And?"

Itachi was quiet. He strode up to the seated Akatsuki member and leaned on the tree at his side.

"We are at war with her village. You cannot hope to keep our real identities hidden forever."

Sasori gave the young man an almost disgruntled look.

"That's not what I'm aiming for, She will know the truth when the time is right," he said, returning his gaze to the satchel in his hand.

"And how exactly would that happen?"

The puppet master almost laughed at that comment. He looked up again at the Uchiha, watching him turn his Sharingan on.

"That's my business, worry about yourself instead. It seems Kisame has caught the flu from Deidara, it will only be a matter of time before its passed onto you," Sasori commented, determined to change the subject.

Itachi gave a sigh at that.

"That's true, he won't stop complaining about his stuffed nose... I already have some symptoms, but it's only a cold after all," The Sharingan wielder answered, but absentmindedly so as his thoughts pondered over other matters

He gave the puppet master a look.

"I suppose you have nothing to worry about, being a puppet and all."

Sasori fixes him with a blank stare but nodded at his words.

"Yes, I can't get sick. I don't want you to pass it onto Hinata though."

It seemed like Itachi wanted to roll his eyes at that.

"We haven't had much contact so I doubt that will happen. I look forward to meeting her again though," he said, looking up past the trees.

"About that, silver for your trouble, I will notify you when I need you again," Sasori responded, tossing the small coin-filled bag in his direction.

He caught it with ease and nodded at him.

"Bye then," with those words, the Uchiha turned on his heel and disappeared up into the trees.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Heya guys! So I'm back at it again with another piece of the puzzle. Another creme de'la creme, hehehe XD Anyways, I went back some chapters just now and edited some stuff. I recently watched a video detailing some facts and theories surrounding the rings of the Akatsuki members. The rings will have a bigger role in this fanfiction than what they had in the actual anime/manga. I mean they were hyped up to mean something crucial and just nothing was done with it so, I figured I should do them justice in this fic at least XD The main thing that I changed was Pein's knowledge of Hinata as Sasori's discipline. Because in this fic at least, and in many theories, Pein handcrafted each Akatsuki ring and engraved the black Kanji's in the rings with his own black chakra recievers. That would explain why he seemed to know when and where certain Akatsuki members had died like Orochimaru for instance. He was keeping tabs on each member through these rings. With this information, It wouldn't make sense for Sasori to try to hide Hinata from Pein, how else would he explain all his trips to Konoha? So Pein knew about it and permitted it, obviously on some conditions of course. Anyways, enough of this stuff now! **

**Happy reading! xoxoxo**

**Chapter 14**

Four weeks went by and Sasori came and went. Sometimes he had Akira with him but most of the times, he came alone, as usual. Hinata had trained relentlessly, gearing up for the battle with Haruko. It could be felt in her tired, worn muscles. Slowly but surely, she was becoming more and more adept at handling genjutsus.

The last time Akira had been with them, Hinata had taken the courage to actually ask him about their painted nails and rings. After all, the strange accessories wouldn't stop bugging her mind and she never got much of an answer when she would ask Sasori about it. Maybe she would have more luck with Akira, and so, Hinata decided to test that theory.

"So… What's with the nails and the rings?" she had finally asked the tall man with the dark eyes.

He was quiet and immediately shot a glance at Sasori. All of a sudden though, they were both armed with kunais. A twig snapped, beneath the dark boots of a new visitor, standing by a tree. He had long blonde hair, the colour of sand dunes. The blonde mane was divided in two parts, one was kept up in a high ponytail, the other was loose. A long bang hung over his left eye. He wore a big smirk on his lips and black clothes on his back. No headband, though he was obviously a shinobi.

"I was wondering why you two were always running off to Konoha, yeah!" the stranger said, walking up to the two men.

Sasori looked impossibly angry, Akira just looked alarmed.

"Oh come on, guys, you can't expect me not to snoop around when I'm the one giving you a ride here? I was curious, yeah," the stranger continued, looking away from Sasori to cast his blue eyes over her form. "My, aren't you a cute one..."

She couldn't stop the blush that coated her cheeks. Sasori snapped his enraged eyes over to her and she hid her face, looking down at her shoes. His eyes were like baked clay ringed with red.

"D-" Akira began but stopped himself. He snapped his dark eyes over to Sasori. Then he looked at Hinata.

"Hinata-san, This is our..." he began but was cut off by Sasori, whose eyes had returned to focus on the blonde ninja.

"Our other... _friend_. Daigo. He's not supposed to be here, though," Sasori muttered out, although his voice was very sharp. He sure wasn't happy.

Daigo's smile only grew, he fixed his gaze on her and raised his hand waving it at her. She noticed he had black nails and another one of those rings on his right index finger. It had a blue stone in it but she couldn't see what sort of kanji it had. Then he came closer, walking up to her, his grin only growing. She felt unease stir in her stomach.

"So you are Hinata then? Sasori no danna's discipline, yeah?"

The honourific he'd just used on her teacher, indicated a deep respect. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all, he actually seemed rather playful. Yet she was still a bit uneasy. Remembering what Sasori had said about courtesy, she stretched out her hand.

"My name is Hyuga Hinata, pleased to meet you."

Daigo's smile only grew. He took her small hand and shook it firmly.

"The pleasure is all mine, princess. Just call me Daigo."

Fighting of the blush that once more creeped over her cheeks, she inspected his ring. The black kanji of "Blue" was engraved on the sapphire stone. Daigo noticed her keen interest.

"You wanna know why we have these rings?" Daigo asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

She nodded, not seeing the concerned looks exchanged by Sasori and Akira. Daigo raised his visible eyebrow at her, before something akin to a leer grazed his features.

"We're actually in a band. Pretty big out in stone. Sasori does vocals and I play the keyboard," he'd explained to her with the most serious expression she'd seen on him so far. He motioned towards Akira, "That depressed dude over there plays the flute. He's a real heartbreaker."

She stared at the blonde, shocked. Then her wide eyes moved over to Akira who had closed his eyes, his hand massaging his forehead. And Sasori seemed as shocked as she was, his eyes looked ready to pop out of his skull. The visual image of Sasori singing into a microphone made her abruptly laugh.

"T-That can't be true-" she tried to say through her giggles but was rudely interrupted by her teacher.

"Daigo! Stop messing around!" he barked out, uncrossing his arms from where he leaned on a tree.

Daigo gave the puppet master a funny look before he turned back to Hinata, a playful glint in his eye.

"Nah, we just like fashion," he conceded.

Hinata laughed at that as well, especially when she took in Sasori's face. It looked like he had wanted to object to that notion as well. His mouth opened but promptly shut itself as he harshly shook his head, muttering something inaudible under his breath.

He was seething with ire but for some reason, it just made her want to laugh harder. The prospect that the three men before her would be into fashion made her want to bend over backwards in laughter. It was ridiculous.

Of course she could tell that there was something they were holding back on but then again, who was she to snoop around? Yet, it was interesting for sure. After that, Sasori had dragged Daigo away, muttering something about "having a word with him". She had been left with Akira, who went about training her genjutsu skills some more.

Thinking back on the odd memory, Hinata cracked a smile. Though, she then sighed deeply, breathing in the nightly air. Regrounding herself back to the present.

Her tea had grown cold, she had forgotten to drink it, again. It was her second cup of wasted tea that night. She just kept forgetting to drink it for some reason. She had been so distracted as off late. Actually, there were many things to be distracted about.

This day had been… hectic, to say the least. Terrible actually. All of her tears had dried up and the only things she could do now was to think. Yet, it felt like she was going in circles in her head, nothing made sense.

The misfortune of her day had really started around noon. She was just done with the daily training she usually had with her clansmen, practicing the sacred Hyuga techniques. She knew she wanted to train with Hana for a short while, and so she had proceeded to go up to the forest behind the red door. Of course her cursed father had followed her, wanting to catch her in the act.

And that's exactly what he did.

"I've told you countless times! Puppetry is not a fit practice for a Hyuga, nevertheless an heiress," he'd hissed at her through his teeth, his white eyes narrowed into slits. "You refuse to listen, I've given you warning after warning yet you still persist, bringing shame upon this great clan!"

She could hardly react as he shouted at her, such nastiness was beginning to get old. She merely stood there and took it, hoping he wouldn't beat her but still expecting it. He didn't put his hands on her though, something she was eternally grateful for and maybe a little perplexed by. Yet he did confiscate Hana, ripping the scroll out of her hands.

That's why she had stayed up so late. The clock had just hit midnight and she knew her father to be asleep at this time. Operation save Hana could soon begin. Hinata would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. She was literally shaking on the inside, and even on the outside.

She had already vomited up her dinner, the nausea was just so potent. It had settled now though but it still didn't really go away. It still felt like something was squeezing her insides, her heart weighed like a stone in her chest and her throat felt so dry. No matter how much cold tea she drank.

But she refused to give in. She was going to get Hana back, she had to. There was no other alternative. And so, she had dressed in all black, making sure to melt in with the shadows. The two Hyugas that stood guard outside her father's chambers would be the first hurdle to overcome.

And so, she was going to sneak in through the balcony entrance. Of course it was locked but thanks to Sasori, she knew the basics of lockpicking. Though she didn't do it often and as such, it took her maybe 15 minutes to actually get the door open.

The room laid in darkness and soft snores could be heard, coming from the king-sized bed of her father's. Her heart was beating so loud, she almost expected it to jump out of her chest. Holding her breath she creeped over the floorboards to enter his study room. If she made the slightest noise, the guards outside were sure to activate their byakugan and notice her.

So she had to be as quiet as humanly possible, opening the door to the study room and closing it with the utmost care.

She knew he kept his scrolls here somewhere, she just had to look. She wasn't stupid enough to actually turn on the lights. And so, taking a deep breath, she allowed chakra to concentrate around her hands, flexing her fingers. The warm, energetic sensation prickled her skin and soon, both of her hands glowed in soft, blue light, lighting up everything she touched. The perfect lamp.

Activating her byakugan, she scanned the drawers and cupboards. They were all either filled with scrolls or books. Soon her 3D gaze came upon a particular scroll that caught her eye. The signature and the colour was familiar. Almost ripping the drawer open, her glowing hands picked out the scroll and sure enough, it was Hana!

She stopped for a second, suspicious. How could this be so easy? That's when she realised that the snoring had stopped and she got her answer. This wasn't easy at all. The lights turned on and icy cold dread enclosed her, creeping down her back. Swallowing thickly she turned around and dismissed the light from her hands.

Standing by the doorway, was her father, his expression, unreadable. She kept her byakugan activated, not too keen in dismissing it when she felt so obviously threatened.

"Looking for something?" he asked, his tone cold.

"N-Not anymore," she answered and held up the scroll.

She couldn't believe her confidence at the moment. She was actually scared shitless.

"Hinata… That scroll is not for you to take," Hiashi continued.

That fear, instantly gave way to anger, surprising her with the ferocity of it.

"It's mine. You are the thief here," she said, calm and steady.

The clan leader looked utterly speechless at that, surprised even. His white eyes widened and his expression soured into a foul scowl.

"You insolent little wench, after everything I've done for you and you still defy me?!" he almost barked out at her, swiftly walking up to her frozen form.

He was about to rip the scroll out of her hands when she tucked it into the holster at her waist. She received a hard slap for doing that. Hinata staggered a bit to the side, her cheek burning. In that moment, she realised how common this was, how normal this was. She had been here before, and one could almost call her experienced in the field of beatings. Now, her anger and spite, outweighed her fear completely.

"All you ever do is beat me. Are you r-really surprised at this outcome?" she spat out, daring a glare in his direction.

She would not give in to fear this time. But she could do so with her rage. It looked like her father didn't even know what to say so she took this opportunity to let it all out. Everything that she ahd kept bottled up inside of her.

"All you ever do is holding me back! Holding me back from my true purpose! I didn't win over Neji due to cheap tricks as you call it, I won because I'm the better fighter, because I'm cunning. Imagine being the only H-Hyuga using poisons and puppets, I-I will be extraordinary, stronger than you one day! I will achieve this whether you l-like it or not, but I need Hana for that!" Hinata exclaimed, her voice only shaking a little bit.

She placed her hand on the holster, taking a small step back as she took in his stunned face. His stunned face, gave way to anger almost immediately.

"Hana?!" he hissed out, his fist clenching at his sides.

An ominous feeling started to climb up her spine but she refused to back down now.

"I named the puppet after her."

He shook his head, as if he was questioning whether or not he heard her correctly.

"You… named that thing after her?"

He took a step towards her and she took three steps back as a consequence, rounding the table. Suddenly, a small grin rugged at the corner of her lips, a vulgar thought entering her mind.

"I w-wanted to honour her memory. Although I can't for the life of me understand how she could ever m-marry such a cruel, monstrous man as yourself. It must have been arranged, or she was simply out of her mind," she crudely said, her eyes narrowed into slits.

She can't believe she just said that, though she did mean it. The only thing she got out in return was the sight of her enraged father, snarling out curses as he ran towards her. She bolted out of the door, her heart hammering away in her eardrums.

Running madly, she got to the balcony door and threw it open. She wasn't fast enough though. He caught her by the hair and brutally hurled her back. She landed on her stomach. That's when the fear, the dread kicked in. A fist landed on her back and she instinctively, hid her head in her arms, turning over on her side.

Then a foot hit her, and another and another. She was kicked repeatable on her back, where she laid, caved in like a crescent. In the end the pain was so great that she knew she had to do something. Anything. A scream wrenched itself free from her throat, her ribs quaked from each blow. She tasted blood on her tongue.

She received another two more kicks before she could feel her hands buzzing with chakra. Although this time, they didn't glow blue. As quickly as she could muster with her broken body, she rolled away from his feet and got up on her knees.

Hyuga Hiashi looked at her with a rageful disgust, contorting his face into a sneer. That sneer fell from him as something akin to surprise took its place. Her clenched fists, crackled to life with lightning as the roots around her byakugan eyes flexed like muscles. It was with a wild look in her eyes that she lunged at him, both of her fists raised.

The gentle fist, a flurry of strikes hitting him in his chest. The odour of burnt flesh reached her nostrils, no doubt caused by the lightning. His wide, unhinged eyes met hers before he was thrown away from her. His shirt, burnt through and blackened. She thought she could see regret flash across his face but it could have been a trick of the light.

Hinata didn't wait around to see his reaction. With tears in her eyes, a sob in her throat, she razed out the balcony door and disappeared into the night. He got what he deserved, so why did she feel guilty?

**…**

"Haruko will try to keep her distance from you. She knows Hyugas are dangerous on close quarters, it's pretty much a universal fact. Your job is to not let her get away," Sasori told her with an authoritarian tone to his voice, deep and booming.

As was custom when he demanded her full attention. And her full, undivided attention, he got, albeit not without distractions.

For as he was saying these things, he had her simultaneously, jumping around and dodging Hiruko's massive tail. The sharp, poison-dipped tail which he controlled with some sturdy chakra strings from his right hand.

Sweat made her black tank top and pants cling to her like a second skin. He hadn't permitted her to use her Byakugan. The reasoning was that it would allow her to see the tail from all angles, and therefore make her more prepared in dodging it. Apparently he wanted her to practice her stamina and reflexes. The byakugan would only limit that practice, in his own words.

It annoyed her but it's not like she didn't get his point of view. She just didn't know why it was necessary to hone her reflexes when she had special eyes to make up for that. Either way, she knew better than to talk back to him. He usually had a good reason for everything...

She managed to stand her ground for another two minutes or so, all while fighting back the biological urge to activate her bloodline limit. In the end, the massive tail got her right across her lower back. The worst place really.

It cut apart her top and sliced the skin open, like a hot knife on butter, making her bleed loads. It was a quite big wound, but Hinata was too busy screaming in agonising pain to really care about the damage. She curled into a ball on the ground, biting her lip and making it bleed in order to have some sort of control over the screams that she emitted.

Sasori was startled at that, startled at her pain. Because, even though Hinata had assumed the tail to be dipped in poison, it actually wasn't this time. Yet she screamed and writhed on the ground as if it actually had been. It boggled his mind and made his suspicions rise as he dropped the chakra strings.

He swiftly walked over to her trembling, crying form. Sasori knelt down and promptly ripped off the lower part of her top. He needed to take a better look at her wound and that's when he saw it. The very obvious reason for her pain. Hinata tried to turn over but he would have none of it.

"On your stomach," he nearly snarled at her, pushing her down by pressing in between her shoulder blades.

That turned out to be a mistake as she winced again, another cry of pain leaving her mouth.

"You cannot be serious!" he suddenly bellowed out in barely contained rage.

Hinata raised her arms and hid her head under them as she felt her top being lifted to reveal her whole back. She wheezed weakly, unable to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She didn't want him to see this, she didn't want anyone to see this. She had been so good at hiding it this whole day.

Decorating her whole back was a colour palette of big, brutal bruises. Yellow, blue and black, blending into each other, creating dark clouds of lilac. He lifted up her sports bra to see the cloud continue. It made her otherwise pearly white flesh look malformed and incredibly discoloured. Like rotten food. It had a whole new shade... a painful, severe shade. The shade of a ruthless beating.

His blood was boiling. He could literally feel it coursing around wildly just beneath his skin, heated and intense. Or maybe it was just his fury. Probably both. She was ruined, soiled, inpure. Someone had done this to her and he hadn't been there to stop it. Hinata hadn't even told him either. His seething, fuming anger was nearly uncontrollable at this point. To think that she would actually try to hide this from him.

A deep, frustrated yell left his lips, foul curses on his tongue. His rough voice snapped like a whiplash in the air, like a guitar cord.

"I swear I'll snap his spine, I'm gonna kill him!" he growled out, his unhinged eyes unable to look away from her wounded back, although he just wanted to close them at this point.

With tense hands, tense like the rest of his body, he began healing her, starting with the bleeding cut.

Hinata's voice was meek as she stuttered out; "M-my father-"

"Your _father_ will be spineless, mark my words," he spat out, interrupting her.

She took away her arms and craned her neck around, shaking her head violently at that proposition. He took in the obvious turmoil and pain that marred her features, bloodshot eyes pleading with him. He was revulsed.

"What? Do you seriously expect me to just do nothing as you are abused? Do you seriously want that?!"

"I-I never s-said that-" she broke off, hiccuping as fresh tears left her glossy eyes. "I-I just don't w-want him d-dead like th-the others..."

Her cut was healed and he began on her bruises.

"The others?"

Hinata took a deep breath, trying to steady herself for what she was about to say.

"I'm n-not stupid you k-know... The man that h-hit me back at t-the arena, his n-name was Akihito and h-he's been reported as m-missing now. Gone, like Sora and the o-other two," Hinata stuttered out, her voice strained and heavy with emotion.

She fixed him with an unrelenting stare and he met it with a stare of his own. His jaw, clenched, his eyes intensely narrowed with his brows drawn low. He wasn't going to back down. He hadn't done anything wrong.

"You didn't need such scum in your life, they would've distracted you from your goals," he hissed at her, looking briefly down to assess that he was done with her lower back.

He moved his glowing, green hands up to continue the healing on the rest of her back.

"That-that's not for you to decide! Y-you just c-can't remove people you don't like from my l-life like that!" she fired back, sounding angry herself.

"I already have!" he shouted at her, his voice snapping at her like fangs would.

"But I never wanted that!" she shouted back, fiercely so.

A consuming urge came upon the puppet master. The urge to maim, kill, mutilate.

"If you think for a second that your father can get away with this unscathed-"

"He didn't get away with it unscathed…" Hinata suddenly conceded, barely a whisper.

Sasori's eyebrows rose up in a baffled look, his eyes seemed beyond fixated on the child before him.

To have him so concentrated on her nearly made her skin crawl, but she wouldn't trade it for the world. His hands left her as her back was healed up now. Gone were the ugly, oil painting of lilac bruises. In its place were a peachy, fair and snow-like texture, adorned with a new scar on her lower back.

"Tell me what happened, start from the beginning," he said, breathing in sharply through his nose.

She did just that.

**…**

"-And now I think he's avoiding me. I've barely seen him since yesterday…" Hinata finished her tale with a heavy sigh.

She was leaning on a tree, Sasori at her side. He'd been polishing a kunai during the entire time of her story but she could tell he was hanging onto every word. It seemed like he just wanted to do something with his hands, keep them busy while his mind took in what she had to say.

"You had the right on your side, Hinata. He was taking your belongings from you, he's a thief in my book," Sasori said, looking up from his kunai and pointing it at her. "I would suggest you trample any lingering feelings of guilt, he got what he deserved. Though according to my standards, you were being too lenient, way too lenient."

Hinata creased her eyebrows in despair at the memory.

"I just wanted to get out of there to be honest. I can still smell it you know, the burnt flesh…" she heaved out, biting her lip.

It looked like Sasori wanted to bitterly laugh at that, but he restrained himself, keeping his rusted eyes on the girl by his side.

"If he touches you again..."

Hinata gave him a troubled look.

"About that… I cannot have d-death folllow me around like a shadow. You will have stop punishing people that cross me," she explained, her eyes almost pleading with him to see reason. "It's- It's too risky anyways, you said you didn't want too many eyes on me," she added as an afterthought, hoping that would make him more complacent.

"Sure."

She was taken aback by the short, easy response. He couldn't mean it could he? For what could have been the first time in her life, utter distrust filled her white orbs as she gazed upon the puppeteer.

"Sure. Whatever you say, Hinata," Sasori said again, his voice devoid of any sort of emotion.

This couldn't be genuine. He was too persistent, too stubborn.

"So you won't d-do anything?"

His jaw clenched into a straight, sharp line, his lip twitching slightly. The look in his narrowed eyes could only be described as volatile. An uncomfortable silence stretched out between them.

He spun the kunai in his hand, before putting it away in his belt.

"There are some matters I need to attend to. So you will train on your own for the rest of the day. You should practice the combination of lightning release and the gentle fist, obviously it is a quite potent ability," Sasori suddenly uttered as he stood up, looking down at her.

His calculative mind was already going through which poisons he would use on Hinata father. It couldn't be something too outrageous and it needed to resemble a sickness. Yet it had to be painful and long lasting as well. He already had some ideas.

In truth he wanted to force feed Hiashi Cyanide, or Arsenic, but Kloxav will do. It was a substance he had thrown together a long time ago. It makes the victim sick for at least two weeks. They can't eat without vomiting, thus their only hope for nutrition would be through a feeding tube.

His meddling would also leave symptoms of a cold, although with a severe fever, a dry throat, a running nose. Not to mention the tortuous headaches, the insomnia, the muscle aches. Kloxav would keep Hinata's father bedridden and incredibly weak, way too weak to be a nuisance. It would keep him off her back until the tournament. Which was good. Now, almost a month had gone by and her fated battle with Haruko was drawing nearer by the second.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

It was a sunny day, way too hot for her liking. Yet today was the day of the tournament and the evidence of it could be felt in the tense, energetic air. She was happy she hadn't bought her jacket with her. Instead, sporting a red shirt, black shorts and fishnet leggings, completed with black high boots.

She thought she looked good, she usually didn't wear red but she wanted to honour her mentor, she knew he liked that colour. Hinata hoped he was around, but she couldn't know for sure.

She activated her byakugan and searched the stands. There were so many people and besides, were he to be there, he certainly would be in the guise of someone else. The arena was impossibly huge, enormous in fact. All eyes were on the nine aspirants, standing around in a fine line. Well, there were only eight of them at the time, Sasuke had been strangely absent.

Naruto, on the other hand, had been late but thankfully he arrived just in time to hear the Hokage's speech, enhanced by some sort of jutsu, so that all could hear him loud and clear. The kazekage was by his side and she was once again thinking about Sasori. He was still a shinobi of Suna right?

"Everyone, thank you very much for coming to Konohagakure's chunin exams. We will now begin the final round of matches for the nine individuals who made it through the preliminaries. Please watch until the end!"

A loud roar of cheers erupted at that and Naruto, who stood by her side, was buzzing with so much energy that he literally had to jump around. She exchanged a look with Shino and managed a laugh at the boy at her side. Though she was distraously nervous, hoping a forced laugh would ease her up a little. It did no such thing.

"I thought, purple was your favourite colour. Why are you wearing red?" Shino asked, his voice muffled slightly by his collar.

Hinata gave him a smile.

"I guess I was just feeling up for a change today…" she replied, resting her hand on her scroll holster.

"Red suits you!" Naruto said, grinning at her.

Her heart leaped in her chest and she gave him an even bigger smile, about to reply in kind when...

"Hey yo!" a deep voice could be heard and they turned around at the sound.

The voice belonged to one of the sand siblings, Kankuro if she remembered correctly. The burly boy walked up to her, his eyes fixed on her small form.

"It's a pity I won't be fighting you, little girl. It would have been interesting to see how your puppet would fare against mine after all," he said with a leer on his painted lips.

Hinata didn't take kindly to being called a little girl, but she could actually glimpse genuine curiosity in his eyes as he went on.

"That puppet you used… It is advanced, designed and built perfectly. How in the world did you get your hands on such a puppet?"

Hinata, bit her lip in thought. She knew she couldn't expose too much.

"It was a gift, the person who gave it to me said it was easy to manage and suitable for beginners…"

Kankuro barked out a laugh at that.

"You cannot be serious?! That's insanely stupid. That thing is too complex, it has too many abilities for it to actually be called "easy to manage". A spider puppet is not suitable for beginners, a normal puppet would be," Kankuro explained, creasing his brows in intrigue.

"Well, then he obviously meant it would be easy to manage by his own standards. He's an expert puppeteer, he would obviously know more about this stuff than you," Hinata retorted, a bit irritated at his arrogant attitude.

She knew she had said too much though and placed a hand over her mouth in mortification. Kankuro's grin grew to reveal white, pointed teeth. His eyes thinned into shapes of almonds.

"So it is a he then? What's his name? Where did he come from?"

Naruto then decided to chime in.

"It must be your secret admirer right? I overheard Ino and Sakura talking about all the gifts you've gotten," he commented, curious as well.

"What makes you so sure that he's an expert puppeteer?" Shino said as well, peeking at her over his sunglasses.

Hinata had started to sweat by now and she noticed that the rest of the contestants had all turned their attention to their conversation.

Temari grinned much like her brother, leaning on her giant fan. Gaara, looked bored but amused at her obvious discomfort. Haruko just looked thoughtful.

"W-Well it's n-not like I don't know a thing about him… He mentioned in a letter that he was an expert in the field of puppetry, second to none, I-I don't know his name though…" she stammered out, nervously clutching her collar, why was it suddenly hard to breathe?

"He must be from Suna right? All who's worth their salt in puppetry come from the desert," Kankuro said proudly.

"I don't know where he's from…" Hinata muttered out.

To her great relief, the conversation was halted by Genma.

"Everyone please get back in line and shut it," he said, taking out the stick from his mouth. "In case you haven't noticed, Uchiha Sasuke still hasn't arrived. If he doesn't get here when it is his time to battle, he will lose by default."

Naruto looked very much alarmed by that and Hinata would be lying if she said she wasn't worried as well.

"I refuse to accept a hollow victory like that," the seething, chaotic voice of Gaara snapped through the air. "If the Uchiha isn't here on time, I will simply wait until he is. Even if I have to wait until after Temari."

Genma massaged the back of his neck and sighed deeply. "I suppose that can be arranged, though I will send someone to talk to the Hokage about it."

Then Genma fixed them with a serious stare.

"Now listen up! The terrain is different but the rule is that there are no rules, the same as the preliminaries. The matches will continue until one or the other dies or acknowledges defeat. However, if I judge that it has been settled, I will stop the match there. Arguments will not be allowed, Understood?"

None objected.

"Good," the jounin continued. "So the first match is Uzumaki Naruto and Nara Shikamaru. You two will remain here and the rest of you will go to the waiting room."

Genma motioned for an opening in the arena. They all started to leave, though the sand siblings were the first to walk away.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun," Hinata said to the blonde boy at her side. "And you too, Shikamaru-kun," she directed her eyes to the Nara who gave her a small smile.

"Thank you Hinata," Naruto replied with a big grin on his face.

Their eyes met and she fought off the blush that threatened to spill unto her cheeks. Soon, she joined Shino as they walked away with the others.

They all walked up a flight of stairs to arrive at one of the platforms closer to the terrain.

"Let the battle begin," The Hokage exclaimed and cheers erupted from the stands.

Hinata stood tense with a lump in her throat. She wasn't going to play favourites but she hoped Naruto would win this one.

The battle was on and Hinata took a seat to Shino's right. There was movement in the corner of her eye and she witnessed Haruko, sitting down on her other side, her green eyes fixed on the battlefield. It was the first time in years, she had been this close to her and a bang of nostalgia hit her as he took in her freckles and messy, red hair.

She was wearing green clothes, it had always been her favourite colour.

"Haruko-san…" Hinata hesitatingly said, hoping her former friend would turn around and look at her.

She did. Her face remained passive though, aside from a strange glint in her eye, making the green look more vibrant and intense.

"Do you still play with dolls? Or maybe you would much rather call them puppets by now," Haruko asked and it was hard to tell if her tone had been mocking or just plain neutral.

"I have moved on to puppets yes," Hinata answered.

A grin stretched across Haruko's lean, red lips. Hinata couldn't help but to mimic the gesture. They both turned their attention to the unfolding fight before them. Naruto had summoned a bunch of clones and to counter it, Shikamaru had as well.

"That Nara kid is smart," Haruko suddenly said, her grin only growing.

This peaked her interest and Hinata briefly looked over to the companion she had at her side.

"How so?"

Haruko gathered up her fiery locks into a messy bun at the back of her head. Some bangs hung loose and covered her eyes. She promptly blew them away and pointed towards the battlefield.

"See how he is constantly advancing, keeping Naruto on his feet and making him move into the trees?"

Hinata followed her gaze and nodded.

"As soon as Naruto steps into the shadows, the battle will be over," Haruko continued, looking excited.

"W-What do you mean by that?" Hinata blurted out in confusion, looking away from the battle to stare at Haruko.

Haruko met her stare with a wicked look on her face.

"The Nara clan has an infamous jutsu. They can stretch and shrink their shadows at will and connect their shadows to other people's shadows. They will simply bind their shadows together and steer their movements. It's impossible to break free from it once you're in it. It's called shadow imitation. So just imagine what would happen if Naruto decides to seek refuge amongst those trees, it's a place full of shadows."

Hinata took in her words with a dawning realisation.

"So that's why he's slowly steering him towards the treeline…" she got out, looking back at the battle.

Naruto didn't seem to take the bait though, staying clear of the trees. He was always moving though, outrunning Shikamaru's shadow jutsu.

"See how the Nara always stays inside the shadow casted by the wall, he is utilising that shadow to increase the range of his jutsu," Haruko commented again.

"But he needs to make more shadows in order for it to reach Naruto," Hinata said, watching as Shikamaru jumped around within the shadowed area, avoiding Naruto's kunais and shurikens.

"He just needs to drag this out and wait for the sun to set a little bit more…" Haruko said, leaning her elbows on her knees, never taking her green eyes off the battle.

Time went by and that's exactly what happened. As the sun moved just a tiny bit, the shadow caught up to Naruto and she could hear his curses all the way up to their platform. He lost the fight with Shikamaru but no bad blood seemed to be between them as they joked around with the fact that Naruto was stuck under the jutsu.

Shikamaru started doing funny gestures and Naruto mimicked them with a laugh, though he couldn't control his movements.

"The winner is Shikamaru of the Nara clan!" Genma judged loudly and cheers erupted from the crowd.

Shikamaru broke off the jutsu and both he and Naruto shook hands. They disappeared then into the opening in the wall, leading up to their platform.

Since Sasuke hadn't arrived yet, the match went on straight to five and six. Kankuro and Shino. She briefly hugged her teammate and wished him good luck. Shino and Kankuro made their way down towards the arena and met Naruto and Shikamaru by the stairs.

"Good luck Shino!" she could hear Naruto cheer as they passed by each other.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said as the blonde boy sat down where Shino once had been. "It's too bad…"

"It's a pain but worse things have happened, no use being moody about it," he said to her, the grin on his face still present.

Haruko scoffed at that and shook her head. Hinata ignored her, her white eys glued onto the rhapsodic boy by her side. She admired him for his strength, his strength to withstand and not give in to negativity.

Then the match began. Kankuro summoned his puppet and Shino, his bugs. They rose up from him like an ominous black cloud, like dark wings sprung forth from his back. The battle was on. Kankuro's puppet came at him with a vigor and Shino ducked out of the way, jumping back and avoiding the senbons that spilled out of the puppet's mouth.

The puppet was a fast one, keeping Shino on his feet and not giving him the time to use his bugs. Or that's what she feared. But the tide was about to turn in their favour. Shino was holding back for a reason. He danced around with the puppet some more, until he unleashed a tidal wave of bugs from his arms. It lunged at the puppet and completely engulfed it, smothered it. Creeping into its joints and making it unmovable.

Kankuro bellowed out curses as he tried to get his puppet to move but it was futile. The bugs started to climb onto the blue chakra strings, chakra were their food after all. Kankuro quickly cut the strings off before they could reach him.

That brief distraction was all her teammate needed. Shino appeared behind him armed with two kunais, out of nowhere it seemed. Without wasting time, he plunged the weapons deep into Kankuro's arms. It was absolutely brutal to watch and his screams cut into her ears.

Temari drew a sharp gasp as she gripped the railing and stared hard at her brother. Hinata couldn't help but to feel a bang of remorse as she took in the distraught face of the older girl. No matter how cruel she thought the sand siblings to be, Temari still seemed to care deeply for her brother, just like she herself would care so much about Hanabi. The same couldn't be said for Gaara though. The pale redhead rolled his eyes at the scene, devoid of any emotion aside from annoyance.

Gaara then glared at his sister, as if he was taking offence at her being so worried over their brother. Kankuro's screams suddenly increased and Hinata looked back down to witness bugs, coming out of the kunais in his arms. They spread all over him and he fell to the ground, unable to move as the bugs feasted on his chakra.

"The winner is Shino of the Aburame clan!" Genma shouted and loud roars echoed across the stadium.

"Pathetic" muttered Gaara, staring at his elder sister as she ran towards the stairs, no doubt wanting to check on her brother.

"Whoever wins between you and me, will fight Temari," Haruko suddenly whispered in her ear.

startled, Hinata stared at her, green met white.

"I intend for it to be me," the freckled girl continued. "I will do whatever it takes to win this Hinata."

"As will I," replied the byakugan wielder, watching intently as the taller girl stood up and strode away towards the stairs.

Haruko passed by Shino, who had just gotten up the stairs. He walked up to her, a small smile on his face.

"Congratulations," Hinata told him, giving him a quick hug.

"Likewise," said Shino, ruffling her hair.

"But I haven't won yet…"

"Doesn't matter, I know you will beat her."

Hinata's eyes softened at that and a graceful smile adorned her face. She didn't want to disappoint him, or anyone else for that matter.

"Hinata! Take this home!" Kiba's loud roar could be heard from the stands above them and she craned her neck around, activating her byakugan.

Upon those stands, she easily recognised her teammate's fired up face, little Akamaru perched upon his shoulder. He sat there amongst her former classmates, they were all smiling and laughing amongst themselves. Her eyes took in Ino, Sakura, Tenten, Choji, Rock Lee and Neji-niisan, as well as Kurenai and the other jounin teachers.

Some stands above them, she spotted her own clan members. Reiko-san sat with Hanabi at her side, eating out of a noodle box. Her father was of course nowhere to be seen. He had been sick for the past week or so, ill enough to be unable to leave his room. She was happy about that. She didn't want him here either way.

Suddenly her eyes widened as she took in who was seated on the stand right behind Reiko-san. It was the Hyuga that Sasori usually disguised himself as. The dark brown, braided hair, the slender face and the thin lips. She would recognise those features anywhere, they were so closely associated with Sasori by now. Their eyes met and she wasn't sure if he could see her or not but it didn't matter. What mattered was that he could see the match.

"Hinata," Naruto suddenly said and she was ripped back to the present.

Turning around she took in his handsome face with a blush.

"You will win this. Believe it!" he exclaimed, his eyes so wide and so full of life, his grin likewise.

Without further ado, he gave her a big hug, laughing in her ear. Her eyes became wider, the roots of her byakugan flexing slightly. Butterflies made her stomach tingle and chest had never felt warmer before, just like her cheeks which were sure to bloom even more crimson.

"N-N-Naruto-kun," she got out, breathless since he had stolen her breath away with his affectionate display. "Thank y-you."

She knew she needed to get going. So she reluctantly untangled herself from the boy and ran towards the stairs, avoiding Naruto's blue eyes. Her face burned so much she could hardly stand it, does this mean he liked her too? At the bottom of the stairs, she could see a wounded Kankuro being healed by a medic, his sister at his side.

"I fucking hate bugs…" she heard the puppeteer mutter under his breath, his dark eyes hoovering over her passing form. "Good luck, you'll need it," he said to her then, making Hinata crease her eyebrows.

"She will use your trauma against you," Temari suddenly cut in, looking away from her brother to meet Hinata's white eyes.

"I've met Haruko before, in Suna once. Underestimate her at your own peril," Temari snidely continued, her eyes cold and serious.

This made Hinata stop in her tracks. She had no idea that they knew each other.

"In Suna?" she asked, curiously so.

Temari nodded.

"She was there with her teammates on a mission some months back. She gave me a good fight," a sharp grin stretched across her lips, in an almost mocking fashion. "You'll see what I mean in due time, when I tell you that I would much rather have you win this fight…"

Quickly looking away from Temari's cold, jade eyes, Hinata swallowed thickly as she entered the arena. She had wasted enough time already. In the distance, she could see Haruko and Genma waiting for her. She made her way up to them with a tense look on her face.

**…**

Haruko was fast and agile. Avoiding Hana to the best of her ability. She pumped chakra to her legs and feet and ran upon the walls of the arena, outrunning the poisoned weapons the puppet fired in her wake. Though it was only by the hair.

Her mandarin coloured threads flew around wildly, getting loose from her bun as she jumped back down and disappeared into a cloud of smoke. A teleportation jutsu.

Hinata knew she shouldn't be stuck in one place for too long and so, she pumped chakra to her feet and ran around the Arena, her activated byakugan spotting her in one of the trees. The legs on Hana morphed into great, poison dipped blades, spinning around in a blur of grey metal. Hinata's lips grinned widely, revealing her white teeth. She was going to cut these trees down.

And so she did. Her puppet cleaved through the tree trunks, making four of the great trees hit the ground in a horribly loud boom, forming clouds of dust in their wake. Haruko jumped from tree to tree avoiding her puppet's onslaught.

Hinata, whose eyes had been focused on the fleeing kunoichi, briefly looked over to her puppet and stopped dead in tracks. Her puppet wasn't her puppet anymore. The terrified face of Hanabi stared back at her, her small form writhed in pain. Her lips blue as she salviated by the corners of her open mouth. Her face, red and bloated.

Hinata's chakra strings were tied around her neck in a tight noose and the little girl clawed at her contorted throat helplessly. Her white eyes, glossy in tears as a gut-wrenching scream left her.

"HINATA STOP, IT HURTS, IT HURTS!"

Hinata drew a sharp breath in pained alarm, petrified at the scene. Her fingers twitched and tensed up and as a result, Hanabi's little head was lopped cleanly off her shoulders. Decapitated by her chakra strings. By her own hand. Blood exploded out of her and now Hinata screamed in anguish.

"HANABI!" she shrieked, her shrill voice raw with emotion.

She promptly severed her bloody chakra strings and reared back, her feet buzzing with chakra.

She continued to jump backwards as Haruko appeared before her, Kunais drawn. Hinata looked back to see her fallen puppet where Hanabi had just been. It had been a genjutsu, of course it had. Yet that horrifying picture of her sisters decapitated head, flying off and spitting blood, would probably never leave her in peace.

A depraved smile coated Haruko's lips as she brutally slammed her boot into Hinata's chest. She flew away and landed on her knees, coughing madly. Her eyes stared at the person in front of her, taking in the chakra pathways that she would surely close down. If she aimed at a pathway near an organ, the damage would be critical.

Hinata raised her hands, the gentle fist making her hands crack to life with chakra. She lunged at Haruko with no warning, not caring as the tip of her kunai left a cut on her arm. Hinata was fast, her hands a flurry of movements as he landed hit after hit on her opponent's torso.

Then a sickly smile spread once more over Haruko's lips and she disappeared in yet another cloud of smoke. A shadow clone!? Suddenly the ground beneath her feet scattered apart and vile scorpions crawled out and up her legs. She wanted to scream but instead, she took a deep breath and formed a hand sign.

"Katsu!"

The genjutsu dissolved into nothingness and Haruko came at her again, from behind. Her byakugan had detected her a long time ago. She turned around just in time to bury a poisoned senbon in her throat. She forced Haruko down on the ground and placed a foot at her chest, keeping her in place.

Haruko's bloody lips opened and her Hyuga Hana's voice flowed out.

"Y-You would really do that?"

The freckled face started to distort and deteriorate. Soon her mother's sickly face could be seen, her white eyes staring up at her in utter betrayal. Hinata immediately threw herself off of her and reared back, tears now running down her cheeks.

Her mother's ghostly figure rose up and, senbon still stuck in her throat, blood coating her white skin. The ground became blackened with kohl, sticky with blood. The terrain became nightmarish. The sky bled red and Hyuga Hana started to weep blood from her eyes.

"It's your fault that I grew sick, It's your fault I died! I should have let your father beat you to death. You bring disgrace and dishonour upon my name. I should have never had you," her ghastly voice boomed out, monstrous and grim and deep and totally unlike her.

It was like a banshee's wail, distorted, horribly so. Hinata shook her head in disbelief, in petrified fear, in corrosive dread. She walked backwards and her mother followed her, floating above the ground. Her eyes were ringed with black lines, her dark hair flying around her in wild frenzy. Hinata remembered how it felt when she died, it came rushing back to her with a vengeance.

Her late mother reached for her, her fingernails broken and yellowed, her hands blue.

"NO!" screamed Hinata, tripping over her legs to escape her mother's embrace.

She had to dismiss this somehow, but she couldn't form words, she had to recharge her chakra flow, she had to, she had to… The word "katsu" got stuck in throat and her tongue felt suddenly too big for her mouth. Could you choke on your own tongue? Was this choking sensation a part of the genjutsu?

Crying, sobbing, she fell to her knees. Emotion building up inside of her. Her real mother would never say such cruel things, but Haruko certainly would. This was Haruko's creation. Haruko would use her own mother against her, her own sister...

Her fear turned to icy cold tendrils of hate, climbing up her insides, squeezing her heart. Hate, mixed in with a boiling anger, a scalding fury, a seething rage. It grew and grew, colouring her vision red with bloodthirst. She was going to kill her.

With a harrowing and vile scream, Hinata drew a kunai and stabbed her arm. The weapon cleaved through her flesh and she dragged it deep down into her muscle, inflicting more pain upon herself. She continued her hoarse screaming, watching the genjutsu fall away completely. Game fucking over.

She stood up, her byakugan taking in Haruko's shocked face. The redhead stood where her conjured up mother once stood.

"Raito," Hinata hissed out and with a crackling boom, lightning sprung forth from her clenched fists, climbing up her arms, encircling, entwining.

Her white eyes glowed lucid blue in the light and she lunged at Haruko, the chakra in her feet making craters in the ground. Haruko hurled herself backwards, her kunais raised. Hinata disappeared then into a cloud of smoke.

She reappeared behind Haruko and ruthlessly slammed her to the side. Her electric fist, burning a hole in her shirt and scorching the flesh there. She dropped her weapons and flew away with a horrid scream, coaxing a smile from her attacker. Haruko had enough dignity to try to get up from her grumbled position, standing bent down and holding her wounded side. Hinata ran after her, her fist raised.

The gentle fist, coupled with lightning release, sure was powerful. She hit chakra pathway after chakra pathway, shutting them down one by one. At each punch, blue sparks engulfed her body, cooking her flesh and giving way to the grisly images of her white skeleton, going off like flashes from a polaroid camera.

Haruko flew away once more, crashing into the wall behind her. But this time, she didn't make any sound. A scream could be heard from the stands, though it was drowned out by the other noises coming from the public. Hinata ignored it all.

Her chakra-enriched feet left the ground in yet another crater as she jumped towards the motionless form of Haruko. She grabbed the bloody, scorched girl by her collar and lifted her up, pushing her up against the cracked wall. Her hands, crackling with blue energy, lightning, electricity.

Haruko flinched suddenly, her bruised eyes, slowly opening. Her facial muscles would be the only part of her body she could move. She was at Hinata's mercy and Hinata was eager to finish what she'd started.

"You said you would do whatever it takes to win," she hissed out. "You would even use my own family against me!" that last part she screamed into her face, her voice breaking off like a strained guitar chord.

Right now, Hinata wouldn't recognise the brutal, merciless and cruel look her face had donned. She wouldn't recognise the venom that dripped from her words. But right now, it didn't matter to her that a small part of her was frightened beyond belief at what she had become. Her docile, timid and compassionate nature, had been smothered by the shadow she had repressed throughout her life.

Anything you try to hide, comes back with a vengeance. And her anger grew each time she was trampled on and didn't do anything about it. Now it exploded out of her, years of spite coming to the surface.

"You should have stayed loyal! You should have stayed as my friend and maybe we wouldn't be here today," she spat in Haruko's face, her green eyes wide and aghast, her heart in her mouth.

"Tell my mother, I said hi."

With those dreadful words, she raised her fist high, lightning twirling around her knuckles. The rush of adrenaline, the rush of having instilled such fear in someone else, it had her on cloud nine, cut off from her moral convictions.

"Someone stop her!" someone shouted somewhere.

More voices rose around her, chaos erupted. Hinata could care less and her fist started to descend. It was promptly stopped mere centimeters from Haruko's nose.

Genma, whose presence she had completely forgotten about, stood there. He held her arms with both his hands, the lightning burning through his gloves, yet his face remained stoic.

"Hinata, I'm doing you a favour by stopping you," he said.

Kakashi and Kurenai appeared by his side.

"Hinata…" Kurenai breathed out, she couldn't believe her red eyes.

To see her teacher look at her with such a shocked, crestfallen face, such sad eyes, it shattered the illusion. Completely so and almost reluctantly, she dropped Haruko to the ground. Her anxious eyes didn't dare to look anywhere but her own feet. Shame hung her head low.

The lightning dissolved from her but her byakugan stayed put. She moved out of the way as medics rushed to heal Haruko.

"The winner is Hinata of the Hyuga clan!" Genma judged but any cheers that would have erupted from that, got drowned out by the already rising shouts from the stands.

Hinata couldn't bear to be in the arena anymore and promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. She reapered by the trees and dismissed her puppet, putting the scroll back in its holster. Then she dissolved into smoke once more.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: What is it now, three chapters in a row? I'm not sure, all I know is that I have been struck from the gods above with such a creative rush, writing this is the only thing I've been doing XD I don't know what's wrong with me, I mean, I have barely slept lmao I'm not complaining though. I have a question to ask, how many of you are from Sweden? And a second question, What do you guys think of this chapter? We will be jumping forward in the story from now on, to age Hinata up a little. Please give me your thoughts on the development between Sasori and Hinata. I intend to slowly wake her up and do some detective work around who Sasori truly is. I completely forgot that her byakugan can probably see the odd stuff about Sasori's anatomy... So in this chapter, I'm trying to save that XD Anyways, enough of this rambling!**

**Happy reading! xoxo**

**Chapter 16**

She was running, her boots jumping over logs and rivers, faring deeper and deeper into the forests of Konoha. Fleeing. Hiding from her problems. Hiding from what she had become.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins, her heart hammered away in her ears. It felt completely out of place that she would have this energy, this chakra in her feet to keep her going. That her instincts would be so heightened, so keen to react to every tree and bush that stood in her way. Yet through all of this, her byakugan had deactivated itself, since it drew too much chakra in her weakened state.

In the end, she came to a crashing halt, though not of her own volition. So far, she'd been able to ignore it and completely block out the searing pain in her arm. The adrenaline no doubt, helped with that. But now, it flared up in protest and stung so horribly so that she tripped on a branch and promptly fell over.

Hinata leaned her back against a tree, sweat making her clothes cling to her like a snakeskin would. Slowly, as if she was afraid of what she might find, she looked at her arm and a bile rose in her throat. She had stabbed herself with one of the poisoned kunais…

The wound was a long scar, bleeding red, though in a slightly more darker shade. It almost looked brown in her eyes, she knew it was the poison's doing. The edges of the flesh wound had turned into a sickly green shade, she knew what fate awaited her. Soon the effects would show themselves and she would enter into the first stage. This poison was one of Sasori's favourites because of its slow nature, dragging out the pain and the torment.

Opening her pouch, Hinata dug around for the antidote. She found lots of them… just not the right one. She let out a frustrated scream, throwing away the useless bag in a nearby bush.

"Shut it. You don't want to draw more attention to yourself at this moment," a voice could be heard over her shoulder.

Startled, she drew a kunai from her belt and got to her feet, albeit unsteadily so. Biting her lip, she faced the intruder, her byakugan once again activated. Sweet relief suddenly washed over her though. Her clammy fingers let go of the weapon and she unceremoniously crashed into Sasori.

"I-I don't have the antidote o-on me…"

Her arms locked themselves around his shoulders as her knees lost all of their strength. In turn, his arms circled around her trembling form, as he guided her down to sit once more on the damp grass. Without a word, he inspected her arm with disapproval written all over his tanned face.

"Did you have to stab yourself with one of your poisoned kunais?" he muttered, shaking his head as he dug around in his pocket.

He fished up a small, red bottle and quickly opened it.

"Drink this."

She happily did, draining it all in one gulp, grimacing at the bitter taste.

"Why did you run away? You forced me to leave before I could see the Uchiha fight the Ichibi," Sasori went on to say, clearly not in the best mood.

Hinata could care less about his mood though.

"Ichibi?!" she blurted out in alarm.

Her mentor gave her a secretive grin.

"Yes. The kid known as Sabaku Gaara, has the one-tail sealed inside of him, which explains his antisocial nature. This will become known to you in due time I'm sure."

Hinata's eyes grew even wider.

"S-Sealed?"

Her thoughts immediately went to Naruto. Naruto, who had the Kyuubi inside of him, sealed away just like Gaara's Ichibi.

"Just like your friend Naruto, yes," Sasori, conceded, as if he had read her very thoughts.

"H-How can you know this?" she asked, her dark brows furrowed.

"Oh, I know everything," he simply said, shrugging his shoulders casually, but his eyes were as intense as ever before. "Now tell me why you had to run away? The moment you left the arena, was the same moment that Uchiha reappeared. Seemed awfully symmetric to me."

"I assure you it had nothing to do with Sasuke-kun…" Hinata drawled out, her teeth once again finding her lip to chew on.

"Then what was it?"

She took a deep breath, feeling a headache forming. Hinata looked down, her byakugan had long since deactivated itself.

"I nearly killed Haruko…"

Sasori sighed, rolling his eyes a bit. "It's a pity you didn't go through with it."

"Don't say that!" she hissed out, her jaw clenched.

"Why not? It's the truth and you know it. You wanted to kill her, that much was obvious. The question is why?"

Sasori cocked his head to the side, observing her with great intensity. Hinata wanted to avoid his scrutinizing gaze but she couldn't look away from his suddenly too dark eyes. The anger she had felt inside of her, came once more to the surface. Maybe it had never left.

"So what?! I wanted to make her pay, she trapped me in a genjutsu and forced me to watch the decapitation of my sister, forcing me to endure the horrid sight of my risen mother. She tried to use my family against me!" Hinata blurted out, feeling a sob rise in her throat, yet she determinedly swallowed it down.

Remembering what Temari had said, she shut her eyes, trying to dispel the appalling memories.

"S-She tried to use trauma against me…"

Hiccuping slightly, she refused her tears to spill and angrily blinked them away, her eyes puffy.

"You did nothing wrong Hinata, your reaction was perfectly reasonable given the circumstances. Really, you have nothing to be ashamed of," Sasori explained, his voice adapting to a softer tone, his gloved hand, caressing her face. "I'm proud of you."

She leaned into his touch, not willing to succumb to bitter tears but finding it harder to resist.

"B-But I l-liked it… I liked watching her suffer, knowing I held her f-fate in my hands," she whispered out, wanting so dearly to disappear within the tree behind her, shy away from what she had become.

Sasori took her face in both his hands and tilted it up, their eyes meeting.

"Revenge is sweet, what you are describing is normal. Not everything has to be doom and gloom Hinata. This is new for you, foreign in a sense, that's why it feels the way it does. Yet, there is no use in being afraid of yourself. Take that fear and uncertainty and channel it into strength and resolve. Power is never a bad thing," he breathed out, an askew smirk on his lean lips.

His chestnut eyes seemed to simmer with a deep redness, dancing with a concentrated vigor. Her voice laid trapped inside her throat, she felt speechless.

"Besides, Haruko got what she deserved. She took pleasure in watching you suffer as well you know," he followed up with, his hands leaving her cheeks.

One hand went to the back of her head and another to her eyebrows, then his fingers snapped her forehead and Hinata let out an uneasy giggle.

"Alright, alright…" she uttered, chewing on her lip. "But I still don't want to return to the arena, I left because I couldn't s-stand their stares…"

Sasori nodded at her, his hands taking her arm and inspecting the wound. It looked more healthy now, thanks to the antidote.

"The arena is not the ideal place for you to be in anyway," he said almost casually as he took off his gloves and began healing her wound.

"What do you-" Hinata began asking him, confused at the statement.

"There is a conspiracy going on, a coup you might say."

He healed her fast, nearly done with the wound. Hinata got the distinct feeling that he was hurrying up for a reason.

"A coup?!" she bellowed out in rising alarm.

"I'm going to show you something," he replied with a grin, his eyes even darker than before.

**…**

She was stuck on his back as they jumped through the trees. The wind whipped her hair back and she ducked down behind Sasori's broad shoulders to escape it. He hadn't told her where they would be going, only saying that it wouldn't be far. She supposed there was some truth to that as they suddenly came to a halt, perched up high in a tree top.

She climbed off him and knelt down by his side. Sasori made a "hush hush" gesture as he slowly peeled away the leaves and branches, to reveal what they were spying on. A company of seven shinobi's were gathered in the clearing down below. Six of them were standing in a wide, big circle, doing hand signs. All six of them held scrolls in their mouth. The seventh stood off to the side, overlooking the process, he was probably their boss.

Complex lines were drawn between the six shinobi's, looking much like a rune formation.

"Are they…? "

"Summoning something? Yes," Sasori answered her question before she even had a chance at asking it.

His arm came around her shoulders.

"Activate your byakugan and look at their headband," he whispered in her ear, his breath ghosting over her face and smelling briefly of peppermint.

She did as she was told and thick roots bulged out at the edges of her big, white eyes.

"They're from Suna! I thought their uniform looked familiar-" she let out, her surprise making her temporarily forget that she was supposed to be quiet.

A hand clamped down upon her mouth, muffling her little voice. Her eyes met his hard gaze and he wasn't joking around this time. Something he very rarely did anyway...

"Be quiet Hinata," he hissed at her, his voice stern with impatience.

"S-Sorry…" she mumbled out beneath his hand, looking back at the Shinboi's.

All of sudden, the six shinobi's bent down and slammed their palms down upon the ground. The sharp lines of their circle formation started to glow in a sapphire light and at the centre of it, a big cloud of smoke erupted with an ear-splitting boom. The force of it made the ground shake, as well as the tree they were hiding in and Hinata drew a startled gasp, her hands clutching Sasori's black jacket.

"It's time. Begin!" the seventh shinobi yelled out and on cue, the six men, took their scrolls from their mouths and slammed them down on the ground.

An even larger boom echoed across the clearing and the ground began to shake once more. Smoke manifested out of the circle, growing more and more like a big mushroom cloud. The ninjas disappeared and with her byakugan, Hinata could clearly see the detailed shape they had summoned, hiding behind the smoke.

A giant, monstrous snake rose up, equipped with three vile heads. A basilisk… A boa… Whatever it was, it loomed before them, bigger than anything she had ever seen. Its scales were in light bronze shade with black spots over it. It's three necks had a red cloth around them and its eyes were that of blazing green colour with slit pupils.

She froze like a rabbit would, trembling in fear at the creature. Sasori's hand clamped down even more on her lips, pushing her up to his side. They dissolved into smoke as he teleported them away, right before the tail of the massive snake brought their tree down.

He appeared with her in another tree, some good meters away. She started to struggle against his bruising hold. Pushing him away, she freed herself from his grasp and the look on his face could at best be described as incredulous.

"W-what was that?!"

Sasori almost lazily raised an eyebrow at her.

"A summoning jutsu?" he drawled out sardonically so.

Shaking her head Hinata looked towards the snake again, only to see it plow down the wall around Konoha, making a big opening in it.

"It-It's attacking the village," she whispered out, disbelief coating her words.

"Of course it is. There is nothing else of value around here after all, though I wouldn't go so far as to call Konohagakure a thing of value..." Sasori said and she tensed up at the utter… was it malevolence she could detect in his voice?

She turned back to him, a look of revulsion, confusion and betrayal upon her pale face. Cold sweat started to drip down her back. A sudden, terrible realisation settled in.

"Y-You are a sand ninja," she gasped out, feeling how dread settled around her limbs like shackles would, keeping her frozen in place.

Her mentor, her oldest friend gave her a wide-eyed stare, his jaw clenching. He took a step towards her and she backed away, not being able to look away from his eyes. His eyes which used to be so familiar, now looked beyond strange to her.

"Hinata-" he began but she didn't want to hear it.

With tears in her eyes, she turned around and bolted for the village. Her heart jumped to her throat when she felt sturdy chakra strings close in around her legs, making her drop to the ground and dragging her back to him.

"Let me go!" she shouted, thrashing around wildly and getting leaves stuck in her hair.

Sasori bent down to her level and harshly took a hold of her arms, his nails digging into her flesh. A bile rose in her throat as she took in the wild look in his eyes.

"I had nothing to do with this operation! I haven't served my country for years," he snapped at her, his face impossibly close, too close. "I came here because I wanted to keep an eye on you, I just recently learned about their plans and it was too late for me to do anything about it!"

She turned her head away, how could she believe anything he said? Now that she really thought about it, what made her so sure that he wasn't lying?

"P-Prove it," she stammered out, looking back at him with a dubious look in her eye.

He leaned back a bit.

"I will tell you everything I know then," he simply said as he lifted her up and put her against a tree.

Hinata immediately reared back from his touch, keeping her hand on her kunais.

Sasori sat crouched down in front of her, he looked nearly offended and absolutely enraged at her obvious rejection of him. Sharply inhaling through his nose, his eyes narrowed a bit.

"For years, Sunagakura suffered a series of budget cuts by the daimyo of the Land of Wind, weakening the village and thus re-routing ninja missions to Konoha. They obviously saw this invasion as a means to get back on your village and to enrich themselves. They are allied with Otogakure you see."

Hinata became still, allowing the information to sink in.

"The attack was meant to be fought on two fronts: Sunagakure's Jinchuriki Gaara would make it to the final rounds of the chunin exams and release his tailed beast Shukaku from the centre of the village. While Konoha was preoccupied with the one tail, Suna and Sound forces would break through the walls of the village. Something you and I just witnessed," Sasori explained, he seemed to be done with his tale.

Hinata was still suspicious, something he took keen notice of.

"How do you know all this?" she asked, biting on her lip once again.

"It's in my job description to know stuff, I use sleeper agents for a reason."

She took a deep breath but it got interrupted as he placed a gloved hand on her own, the one resting on the kunais.

"What happened to the trust you used to have for me? I wouldn't do a thing to hurt you Hinata," he said, his fingers closing in around her wrist.

"Y-You're hurting me right now…" she retorted, obviously on edge.

It was true as well. His chakra strings had yet to leave her legs and they had started to draw blood at this point. Sasori seemed a bit curious at that.

"Sorry doll, I didn't realise," he responded and severed the strings with a flick of his wrist.

Sasori of the red sands took in the uncertain girl before him, her bruised and bloodied legs. All that trust he had so carefully built up over the years… surely he hadn't wasted it all? Digging around in his bag, he brought forth another smaller bag.

"Nemuri for your trouble. Next time I'll see you, you'll be a chunin," he told her and put the bag in her lap.

She was quiet and watched him closely like a hawk. In the end, her shoulders sagged and she exhaled. The tension seemed to melt off of her.

"S-Sasori-san," she stammered out, "I guess I'm glad you're here."

_Good, _he thought. She had given up and given in, though he would need to spoil her in the near future. The seed of distrust wasn't so easy to uproot after all. Especially after what he was about to do...

"It's a pity that I need to leave then. Please know that I only do this because I would rather not have you getting into any trouble. This is an invasion after all and Konoha is filled with enemy jounins," he explained to her as his hand once more dug into his bag.

Before she even had the chance to react, he blew a snow white powder in her face. She coughed and sputtered, blinking rapidly. Her eyes became red and puffy, most of the powder she had inhaled. Slowly but surely, her eyes became unfocused and dropped low.

"Sas-" her voice was but a whisper as it suddenly died off.

Soon his naive little girl was fast asleep and would remain so in the coming two hours. Now he just needed to hide her sufficiently, so that no one stumbled upon her. Easier said than done.

**…**

She woke up with a confused moan, her bleary eyes opening with great difficulty. Where was she? What happened…?

She had a headache blooming behind her ivory eyes, leaves and twigs stuck in her hair. She had been tucked away in a rather cavernous bush, hiding her from sight. Her legs were healed, probably Sasori's doing. He had probably put her there as well. As memories started to flow back to her, the bitterness came with them. So much for "keeping her out of trouble" huh? He could say what he wanted, she wouldn't forget about this.

Crawling out of the bush and getting her knees dirty, she unsteadily stood up. She could see smoke rising from the direction of the village. An ominous, anxious feeling coiled around in her stomach. Swallowing thickly, Hinata tried not to think of her friends or their potential fates. Without further ado, she pumped chakra to her feet and catapulted herself up into the nearest tree.

When she arrived at the village, they were in the process of putting out fires, tending to the unfortunate. One of the unfortunate had been their dear Hokage, killed by his former student. A funeral was held for him, two days later. Late in the afternoon, even the skies wept then. Everyone dressed in black with their white flowers and black umbrellas. It reminded her of the blurry memories she had from her own mother's funeral. It had rained that day too.

The distrust that flourished that day, didn't exactly go away with time. It was always there, breeding and brooding in the back of her mind. She was 14 when it came back with full force, stealing away her peace.

Isn't it strange how we get so used to seeing certain things, that we completely overlook the abnormalities? The deformities, the flaws, the oddities. She had looked at him hundreds of times through her byakugan, but she had never really studied him, she never paid any attention to... those things. She never fully noticed it. Had she been in denial for so long? Possibly so.

However, now it only took one single look with her activated bloodline to notice... everything. Maybe it was because she was much more scrutinising than before, more sceptical. Because by now, Hinata has grown tired of all the lies, all the explanations.

His anatomy wasn't normal. It wasn't human. And it had never been so. Hinata had a fair guess as to why he didn't age now. She also had a fair guess as to why she'd never seen him with a headband on. Plain and simple, he was a rogue. An immortal, inhuman one as well. Akira and Daigo were probably rogues as well. She had never seen either of them with a headband...

Mechanically, she stirred her tea. Sasori would be here soon. She wore a white yukata, her outgrown hair held back in pearly hairnet. Ivory like her skin, ivory like her eyes and painted nails. She felt... almost hollow inside. Nearly numb.

Before long, his handsome face appeared on her doorstep, leading out into the garden. Just the sight of him made her feel betrayed. It dug up the ugliness she had tried so hard to bury and forget. Now, Hinata looked at him with a saddened coldness. It was a tragic look she had on her face.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Hello my fellow souls! My sisters and brothers from another fragment of me! This chapter was really fun to write though it is filled with morally abhorrent things... I cannot believe I spent half of it dedicated to the craft of rolling and smoking a blunt... hehe Now you know what I like doing aside from writing fanfiction like true, accomplished adult XD I apologize in advance for the content of this chapter... I wanted to highlight the fact that Hinata is starting to mature and play around with how Sasori would react to that. This is a sinful chapter, so I hope you will enjoy it. I must now go and pray to the lord for forgiveness. Don't know when my next update will be but hopefully soon XD**

**Happy reading, love and light! xoxo**

**Chapter 17**

His doll looked best in white. It made her purity stand out, her innocence increase tenfold. The bare feet, the silky yukata, the white hairnet contrasting with the long black strands... In the puppeteer's eyes, it looked so sweet.

Not sweet like a puppy might be, or a kind gesture. No. Sweet in such a way that it made him want to sink his teeth into it. Feel it squirm in his mouth, squeezing it and kneading it until it simply stopped moving all together. Until the richness of her taste filled his senses to the brim, until the only thing he could taste was her metallic, warm sweetness.

He had to stop himself there. He always had to.

Sasori had to remind himself that Hinata was only 14, though very soon 15. Yet it didn't matter how old she was. Having such... compelling thoughts and enticing impulses about someone that was still very much a child, it was just... something he didn't expect to find in himself. It was for the likes of Orochimaru, not him. Never him. He was different. Superior in fact.

Nowadays, he had to remind himself of her age nearly every time he laid eyes on her. She sure didn't look like a child anymore. Her precious youth had never been more attractive. She grew more beautiful day by day. And so, he had encouraged her to learn how to fan dance. It was only fitting that she knew the art, since she was a piece of art herself.

As he met her white eyes, framed by her fluttering, dark and long eyelashes, he knew there was something on her little mind. Although he had figured as much by her whole demeanor towards him. He had been away for long weeks by now and would expect her to jump into his arms at first sight of him. Her greetings had always been so affectionate… It was with a bitterness that he realised that times had changed.

"I know why you're not aging."

No stutter this time? How nice. She hadn't even said hello... it told volumes of her current mood. Sasori invited himself in, his boots sliding over her floor to her bed. He sat down on it, stretching out his legs.

"You do now? Humor me," he answered her with no humor in his voice, looking her up and down, dissecting her with his cold, copper eyes.

Roaming his eyes over her like that, was a habit of his. It used to make her shudder but Hinata was used to it by now. The kunoichi liked to test the waters with her mentor, especially nowadays. His reactions... entertained her, though he had never been the most reactive bloke. She knew him well enough to pick up the smaller cues though.

She took her time, drinking her tea. Sasori never liked to be kept waiting, she knew that. A smile grew upon her lips.

Impatience was a character trait of his, one that had only grown more potent with the years. Her child self had probably worn him out by now. He used to be more patient with her when she was younger but all too recently, that had changed.

Hinata drank some more of her tea, turning away from his seated form. She was in no hurry to explain herself.

"By all means move at glacial's pace, you know how that thrills me," his voice snapped at her and she put down her cup.

She finally turned to face him, cocking her head to the side. Without moving a muscle, the fair skin around her eyes uprooted itself into small tendrils of muscle.

Her byakugan focused intently on all the abnormalities his body had to offer, all the little stuff she had ignored over the years. To the point where she was really ignorant.

"You've made changes to your body. Not even your chakra pathways are normal and that's just the start of it..." Hinata sighed, her brows creased in a troublesome frown.

Sasori wasn't surprised at her affirmations and he didn't look so either.

"Isn't it awfully odd how you haven't noticed this before, doll?" He asked, his voice taunting, his smirk ever-growing.

The girl gave him an almost sad look.

"I was wilfully blind I think... for a long time. It never felt like I needed to focus on your insides, I-I never did with anyone else so," she conceded with a deep sigh.

Sasori leaned back on his hands, though his body was tense, his face stoic.

"I understand you must feel rather lied to, rather betrayed."

She didn't know what to say to that. So in silence, she chewed on her lip, doubt shining in her eyes. Sasori stood up, rolling his shoulder and causing it to give away noticeable crack. He strode towards her and Hinata stayed where she was, her hands gripping the edge of the table behind her.

"I stand by what I said all those years ago. You were too young to understand, it would have only scared you away," he asserted, his voice low.

He raised his hand, catching a black strand of her hair. _Have you so little trust in me?_ she wanted to say.

"Are..." she hesitatingly began, "Are you immortal?"

His eyes trailed down to her pink lips, observing how the lower one slightly trembled. Observing the little bite marks there.

"From disease, old age and poisons, yes. Though I can still be killed," he responded, his hand twirling the strand of hair into a shapely spiral.

Suddenly, his little girl seemed utterly crestfallen.

"You- You will outlive me then?"

Hinata had a hard time imagining herself growing old and Sasori staying the way he was.

"Now you're really jumping the gun," he chuckled.

Although there were no mirth in his voice, only plenty of amusement. Hinata decided to make her disappointment known.

"It is not the mere fact that you are different that would scare me away and it offends me that you would think of such a thing," she harshly said, her tone blunt and serious, yet her eyes betrayed her, revealing the uneasiness she tried to hide. "My fright would utterly depend on **why**," she emphasised.

Sasori had never seen Hinata as particularly troublesome. He did now. Biting his cheek, he kept his calculating eyes on her gleaming hairnet, observing the little pearls. Her father had given her that on her 14th birthday. _As if that would make it up for all the years of abuse_, a seething voice in his head hissed. He should set the flimsy thing on fire.

"Isn't it dreadfully obvious, Hinata?" he rhetorically asked, "I wanted to be immortal."

She didn't look convinced in the least, if anything she just seemed confused.

"Why would you want such a c-curse? Why would anyone want that?"

Was it pity he could hear in her voice? Spite engulfed him, why would she feel sorry for him!? He didn't want her pity, nor anyone else's for that matter. He would rather have her hate him or fear him rather than to pity him. _That can be arranged, _he cruelly thought and several tempting pictures invaded his mind. He banished them all, though not without certain difficulties.

"I'm the last person you should pity Hinata, I have all I could ever ask for," he fumed, going back to her bed and sitting down once more.

"I-I never…" she began defensively but seemed to give up halfway, sighing deeply. "Sasori-san there's mud all over the carpet," she added with a frown on her pretty, symmetrical face.

She switched between "Sasori" and "Sasori-san" depending on her mood. If she was displeased, neutral or serious, it was simply "Sasori". If she was content or happy and wanted to appease him, it was "Sasori-san".

Her mentor never seemed to care either way and she guessed she really didn't care either. It was just an odd observation she'd discovered about herself.

Without a word, she stomped over to where he sat on the bed. Watching her curiously, he began to take off his gloves. Kneeling down between his outstretched legs, she began to untie his boots. Her actions melted away his irritation and a satisfied smirk danced across his face. He rather liked this position, she should be at his feet more often.

Dragging off his boots one after the other, she looked up at him with a small smile, though a tense one. Hinata checked to see if there were any blood on his black shoes, it was the only reason she was even down there in the beginning. It was more beneficial for her if she didn't know that of course. Luckily, they seemed to be only caked in mud and snow this time and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

Putting away his boots, she grabbed a hold of his knees and pulled herself up. She was so tired of being this gloomy, so she promptly took a seat on his thigh and pulled him in for a hug.

"I haven't hugged you in 84 years," she mumbled, breathing in his scent.

Smoke, wood and leather filled up her nostrils, lulling her into her comfort zone of familiarity. She felt him tense up beneath her touch, his muscles flexing. Was she too close? Was he uncomfortable? Did she smell bad? Her mind raced uncontrollably and she leaned back a bit.

She didn't get very far though as his hand on her waist drew her closer. The other one rested on her thigh, burning her through the cloth of her yukata. A blush coated her cheeks in a fine sheen of redness, she was glad he couldn't see her face. Though he actually could, due to the mirrors she had on her two opposite walls but she wouldn't realise that.

"Did you happen to bring Nemuri with you?" she asked, hopeful. "I've gone a whole week without her and it's starting to feel unnatural..."

She felt his lips curl against her ear, and even the graze of his teeth as he spoke.

"As your humble drug dealer," he began, eliciting a girly laugh from her. "-I brought you enough to last for a good few weeks."

Hinata gave an excited shout at that, nearly jumping up and down with glee. She tightened her embrace, un-deliberately pushing her voluptuous chest against his shoulder. He bit his cheek again, inhaling her soapy scent and immediately wishing he didn't own a nose. Or a shoulder for that matter. Her.._.shapes_… and scent, greatly disturbed his thinking process but he couldn't bring himself to push her away.

A loud thumping noise could be heard on the wall then.

"Shut up," said a disgruntled voice behind it.

"Neji-niisan is in a mood today…" Hinata explained, her voice considerably lower.

"Aren't you afraid that he will use his byakugan to spy on you through the wall?" asked Sasori, keeping his voice to a low tune, though it was Hinata who'd been too loud.

One could never be more careful.

"Not exactly. He wouldn't waste his chakra on me, besides we have a strong principle against spying in the Hyuga household. It is a punishable offense. A Hyuga will instantly known when someone is using their byakugan to sneak a peek, so it's not like they can get away with it," she almost proudly detailed.

She leaned back a bit to look at him.

"S-So, Nemuri…?

"Tssk, always so impatient. I suggest you grind it up this time and mix it with tobacco. I don't want you falling asleep on me," he said, giving her a black sack.

"Yay!" she squealed and immediately got to work.

Her warmth left him as she went over to her nightstand and pulled out a drawer. Out she took a sizable mortar equipped with a long pestle, both of them made of grey stone. Opening the bag, she pulled out two swirling lumps of the weed, just enough for the two of them. Taking out a round box of tobacco, she hesitated for a second before looking back at him.

"H-How much tobacco should we use?"

Sasori shrugged his shoulders. "Grind up the weed first and we'll see from there."

A wide smile grazed her features. She dropped the lumps into the mortar and started grinding away with expertise. The mere process of preparing a Nemuri blunt, was something she was most enthusiastic about.

"Is…" she suddenly began, keeping her thoughtful eyes on the grinding process. "Is the topic of your anatomy a taboo one?"

"It depends on your question," he muttered, cracking each of the joints in his fingers.

She flinched at the sound, making him do it even more.

"I can see that y-you're not that keen on talking about it," Hinata drawled out, keeping her voice pleasant and polite and most of all, soft. "B-But I'm just wondering about the technicalities."

"Ask and you shall receive."

A breath escaped her and she seemed rather relieved.

"So… Can you feel pain at all?"

"Only in specific places, which I won't tell you about."

She gave a huff and a puff at that, playfully so.

"I suppose I have to find out for myself then…"

He reached over and snapped his fingers at her forehead, making her face scrunch up, her nose twitching like a rabbit would. He decided to humor her.

"I can crack my joints whenever I want to, easily dislocate them if need be. I don't freeze and I don't sweat. I can only bleed internally, but only in certain places. If you cut my finger now for example, the blood won't exit the wound at all."

She looked positively impressed, her mouth forming a round 'O', so he continued, keeping the self-satisfied grin off his face.

"I don't need to sleep and I don't need to eat, sometimes I need to drink though but not very often. I really don't have a digestive system you see. I'm more durable than most, enhanced strength and stamina… and my eyes can zoom in and out like a pair of binoculars," he explained, his eyes taking in her funny reactions with great amusement.

Hinata's mouth hung open like a fish out of water, her eyes wide and dancing with enjoyment, she seemed quite overwhelmed, quite dazzled.

"You- Are you serious?"

He nodded, showing off his teeth as he grinned wolfishly. "I don't have infrared yet but I'm working on that."

She laughed, a high pitched sound that graced his ears with their bell-like clang. She immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes swimming with glee and hilarity.

Another loud thump could be heard from the wall then, her cousin had probably thrown something at it.

"A voice was wasted on you!" Neji snapped in the other room, loud enough to make a point.

Sasori detested the little brat but even he had to snigger at that.

"Are all your family members cursed or something?" he asked, looking back at the wall, silently telling himself that punching a hole in it is not the best course of action.

"Think so. They all have a bad temper, even Hanabi nowadays," she sighed, her good mood still intact though.

"_Can't wait to make them all shut up forever," _he thought, his eyes narrowing.

Sasori continued to watch in silence as she put away the grinder and took out the tobacco.

"I'm supposed to have another round box here somewhere…" she grumbled out as she reached over to her drawer again.

"Fetch me the rolling papers," he said to her and she threw a case over to him.

He took out a thin, small sheet of paper and began folding the filter. Hinata finally seemed to find her box and carefully poured the grinded-up Nemuri in it.

"Can't you let me do that instead? I'm not very good at measuring up tobacco, I always manage to take too much and get sick afterwards…" she said then, biting her lip.

"Sure, doll."

They switched and soon enough, the blunt was ready to be smoked.

It wasn't like there was a snowstorm outside, though it did snow quite heavily. She pulled on a pair of thick slippers and a robe. Hinata loved snow with all her heart, but she had decided not to play in it this evening. Though the high Hinata might get other ideas... Luckily she had Sasori with her to make sure she didn't do anything impulsive, like snow angels...

Her mentor pulled his boots back on and they slid the door open. The chilly air bit into her cheeks, making them flush a ripe red. Whiteness was everywhere, drooping from the trees, the roofs and the walls surrounding her garden. Ice picks could be seen hanging from the edges of her own roof, glimmering in the moonlight.

She looked at them warily, her eyes meeting Sasori's.

"It would be troublesome if those fell down, wouldn't it?"

She "hmmd" in response, hiding her hands in the pockets of her robe. They stayed upon the porch, to avoid the snow as well as to avoid Neji-niisan's window.

"I will be 15 in five days. How come y-you always arrive too early or too late for my birthdays?" she blinked up at him and took a seat on the dry part of the porch.

He joined her, putting the blunt between his lips. A small ball of fire appeared on the tip of his finger, lighting it up.

"I guess it's hard to travel in snow," he simply said, taking a drag, his voice coming out in puffs of smoke.

The scent of honey filled the air and Hinata sniffed, a happy smile on her pink lips. He passed her the blunt after taking another hit. She gratefully accepted it and took a rather long drag from it.

"Careful," he murmured, feeling her lean her head on his shoulder, her body sagging against his.

He thought Hinata became slightly stupid on the drug. Bubbly and prone to laugh at the most obscene things, her mind suddenly so easily distracted. She did say she would have the most creative thoughts and genius-level revelations, but the stuff that would come out of her mouth hinted at the opposite. Though it calmed her down, a sensation he could relate to. This rather queer effect it would have on the kunoichi though, was only ever reserved to when she smoked it with tobacco. Otherwise, she would just fall asleep before her… "creative endeavors" could begin.

Hinata took another deep drag of the blunt, sagging even more against him. It was so funny to see her already so affected by the few hits she'd taken. He himself needed at least half of this blunt to himself if he wanted to experience even a fraction of the high she was prone to getting. And even then it was a stretch. He was very much resilient to these things. He only took it for relaxation after all.

"Y-You should install night vision in your eyes," she suddenly piped up, taking another hit before passing it back to Sasori.

"Infrared night vision, yes, as I said I'm working on it."

"Oh it's the same thing…"

"Pretty much."

A comfortable silence stretched out between them. Minutes passed as they smoked and Hinata seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper within herself, her eyes glazed over.

"I w-wanna build a snowman, but N-Neji-niisan would see me and call the cops on me for violating his principles," she said with a childish voice.

"His principles?" asked the puppet master, deciding to entertain her, though his thoughts laid somewhere else.

"Yes. No fun allowed where he can see it, he acts too much like a grumpy, old man," Hinata explained snuggling up to his side even more as she passed him the blunt.

Sasori gave a scoff at that.  
"He reminds me of your father," he said, taking a drag and watching the smoke leak out of him like a rising grey cloud.

The kunoichi shook her head at that notion.

"They may share some traits, b-but Neji-niisan is not anywhere near as bad as my father. They are as different as night and day. Neji-niisan has actually started to b-become more nice to me, he's helping me with my training…"

The soft voice of Hinata carried out into the night as she observed the full moon. Big and white and luminous, illuminating the winterland around them in an ethereal shimmer. Sasori watched her, watching the moon, his eyes drinking up her youthful, pale face and glimmering, ivory eyes. She had eyes like the moon. Soon enough, the blunt had burned down to the filter and so they readied themselves to head inside.

**…**

Hinata shrugged off her coat and slippers, feeling at home in the warm room. The cold breezes that followed them inside seized upon the click of the door as Sasori slid it shut.

"Please remember your shoes this time," she called over her shoulder as she went over to her cupboard.

"Hn," was all she got back and a soft smile appeared on her lips.

The warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest had expanded to her head, making her thoughts disoriented in their constant buzz. She was incapable of having one serious train of thought, only sweet nonsense, hysterical nonsense. An uplifting, carefree sensation rushed through her veins. All senses were heightened from Nemuri's influence.

Lifting up a pink scented candle, she smelled the rich aroma. Strawberry, so pleasant it sent chills down her spine. She picked another one up, a purple one. Inhaling the scent, her toes curled up and a moan escaped her. Lavender. Her fingers soon found another candle, it had a red tone to it and upon smelling it, cherry immediately came to her mind. Yet another moan rose in her throat, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

"I need more candles..." she whispered to herself.

Sasori only leaned on her wall, staring at her and chewing intently on his cheek. He relished in the delightful noises that passed out of her, playing with his eardrums… and playing with his mind. Though he tried to ignore that factor. Most people would have perceived his attention at somewhat creepy, it did give off less than honourable vibes after all... Luckily no one was there to pick up on it, least of all Hinata.

His doll usually indulged herself in her scented candles when she was on the drug. She picked up a pair of matches and started lighting her precious candles, one by one. He slowly strode over to her bed and sat down.

"Are you sure you should mix the scents like that?" he asked, absentmindedly as he took in her supple curves, before fixing his gaze on the bookshelf above her.

"Yes, there can never be too much of-"

"Come here."

He heard her sputter and sigh at his interruption. Turning around she gave him a look, but walked over to him regardless.

"Take off my shoes and I will give you something," he said, a crooked smile on his lips.

She raised her brows at what she perceived to be a rather odd request but nodded. Kneeling down between his legs, she started to drag them off him, he hadn't bothered to tie them after all.

He was doing that with his eyes again, looking at her like he wanted something from her… Briefly looking up, she met his gaze and felt her cheeks burn slightly. That look kinda reminded her of the stares Jiraiya used to give Lady Tsunade, though it was distinctly different.

She put his shoes away and looked up at him, expecting something, no matter how little it may be. Sasori's crooked smile hadn't left his lips and he went to pick out something from his pocket. A long, silvery chain made its ascendance, glittering in the yellow glow of her room. Small stones of pearls or diamonds sat fastened to it.

Hinata drew a gasp at the jewelry, her eyes lit up in wonderment. Sasori held it in both hands, holding the two ends of the jewellery which came in the form of shiny combs. The combs were held together by chains, three kinds of them, drooping down and staggeringly beautiful.

"W-What's that? It's for me?" she blurted out, her pink lips open and parted.

"Of course it is," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, he wasn't about to wear this himself. "It's a hair ornament, I brought it for you while I was in Sunagakure," he explained, his eyes drinking up her awe and adoration, his doll sure loved gifts.

He had actually stolen it from some nobles but she didn't need to know that.

"Is it real silver?" she asked, reaching forward and caressing the jewelry.

"Yes, and diamonds," he added, his smirk only growing as he took in her shock.

"B-But it must have cost a fortune!" she gasped out, her hand going away from the ornament, as if she was afraid it might break at her touch.

"Nothing I can't afford." Sasori shrugged his shoulders, "Now turn around, doll."

She did as she was told and he immediately started to untie her hair net, allowing her nightly strands to fall down her back. Her hair had grown quite long, reaching down to her waist. He threw the hairnet over his shoulder and started to replace it with his own gift. He took the combs and tucked them beneath the dark strands, clipping them into place at the sides of her head. The long chain draped down her smooth hair, it hung down in an U-shape. The silvery gems contrasted heavily with black locks.

"Done," he said, leaning back on his hands.

She sprung up from the ground and walked over to the mirror on her wall. Picking up a smaller mirror, she angled it perfectly so she could admire the ornament at the back of her head.

"It-It's beautiful," she breathed out, her eyes shining.

Putting the mirror down, a wide grin adorned her face and she promptly threw herself at him, hugging him to the best of her ability as she sat down on his knee.

"Oh, Sasori-san thank you, thank you, thank youuu" she rambled on and on with a pleased giggle.

"Hn" was all he said back, his hands settling at her waist, his frame tensed up.

"I really do need to get going," he continued, his voice blowing past her ear.

"B-B-But you just came here!" her voice switched from pure elation to a pure disheartened tone.

"And now I need to go again," he told her, patting her hip as a way of telling her to get off him.

She did no such thing. Her arms clenching around him tighter and he bit back a groan at the sensation of her full chest, pressing up against his own. His jaw clenched as he grinded his teeth.

Hinata pulled back slightly and he was half relieved, half mad at the action. She looked down at him and her eyes looked just incredible lost at that moment. Like a little lost puppy. He knew she was clingy, he knew she had issues, no matter how hard she tried to hide them. She always grew so glum when he had to leave. Maybe that's what happens when a girl has to grow up with a dead mother and an unloving father. Abandonment was an old friend of hers, something he could understand all too well. Something his past self could relate to.

An idea started to brew in his head as he took in her disappointed face. Not exactly out of pity for her, or even concern. No he had his own, selfish reasons for doing this. Although, he knew he was only tormenting himself at his point. But he honestly couldn't resist.

"It's late and you need to sleep, I can stay here until you fall asleep," he said.

A big smile coated her lips, showing off her straight, perfect teeth. He reached over to the black sack on the other side of the bed, taking out a lump of Nemuri.

"Eat this," he ordered bluntly.

Hinata took the weed with only little hesitation, though her eyes lit up with desire at the sight of it.

"You're really trying to knock me out…" she mumbled out with a sheepish grin, plopping the whole thing in her mouth.

She chewed with a satisfied moan, her eyes rolling back again. He averted his eyes and gently pushed her off him.

"Get in bed," he told her and she started to remove her yukata. Alarm nearly took him over but he soon found that she had a white nightgown underneath, calming him down. If only for a bit.

Hinata slipped beneath the duvet, a pleased, happy smile on her lips. It literally felt like eons since the last time she fell asleep at his side. The effects of Nemuri made her too tired too quickly though… Making her fall asleep before she really had time to actually enjoy this moment.

"Don't you want a blanket…?" she quietly asked, her eyes already fighting to stay open.

She was so, so sleepy.

He sniggered a little at that, his eyes not looking at her but rather at her hairnet, which he'd picked up, tinkering with it.

"No I'll be fine. Go to sleep, doll."

With that, she reluctantly felt sleep take her over, feeling so warm and so comfortable. She rolled over and placed her head on his shoulder. He slipped his arm under her head and pulled her in closer. She fell into slumber with a tiny smile, feeling safe and secure in his hold.

The puppet master merely watched with an unreadable glint in his eye. His girl looked peaceful, her breaths even and deep, her chest rising and falling at a steady pace. He stayed still and just stared at her, until he figured she was deep in sleep. Nemuri would keep her sleeping through almost anything, but not quite _everything._

And so, he decided to take some precautions. Making a quick hand sign, he placed a genjutsu over her, one that would certainly keep her asleep through what he was about to do. Locked in a comatose state.

He then slipped the blanket off her, his rusted eyes, burning eyes, drinking up the appetising picture he was presented with. Her nightgown was modest but she was starting to outgrow it. It clung to her curves, tightly so. Sasori allowed his eyes to roam all over her body, no hit of shame or consideration in his gaze. His stare could at best be described as one simmering with carnality. Her age didn't matter now, it wasn't like he was going to fuck her. He just wanted a taste...

This was his right. He owned the rights to her body. He had raised her, taken her under his wing when no one else wanted her. He had spoiled her at times, taught her much, spent all his patience on her, saved her life on countless occasions. She had him to thank for her outstanding growth as a kunoichi. It was his right as an artist to admire his work. She belonged to him as much as any of his puppets did, the only difference was that Hinata didn't have any strings.

Sasori decided that she wasn't thankful enough.

His bare, tanned hand slipped down her lean, soft body. From her collarbone, achingly slowly over her breast before it stopped at her stomach. He fisted the fabric of her gown, making it tear at the seams, though not breaking it. As he would have otherwise wished to.

He thought about bruising her and bloating her, digging his nails into her skin, drawing sweet screams from her throat. Whimpers and gasps, his name on her tongue. Punishing her because she wasn't being thankful. He thought about crushing her chest to his, feeling her frightened heart beating against his own. He thought about ruthlessly kneading her hips with such fervor-. His jaw clenched. He could feel himself growing hard, something he proceeded to ignore into oblivion.

Sasori's rusted eyes took in the creamy skin of her shoulders. _No. _They moved up to her pallid neck. _Yes._ He tilted her head to the side, exposing more of her long neck, looking delicious in his eyes. Without as much of a hint of hesitation, he bent down and slanted his mouth over her artery. Tasting her skin, her smooth, white skin. His tongue was right over her pulse, feeling it hammering away.

His teeth nibbled at her skin, his hand returning to her chest. He gripped the soft, pliant flesh, his nails dragging themselves over her nipple. It hardened under his touch and she gasped, stirring only slightly. His eyes drifted up to her face, accessing that she was still in deep sleep, her pink, plump lips parted.

He bit down on her pulse, hard enough to break skin. Her pulse quickened, as did her breaths. The taste of her metallic, bittersweet blood, rushed into his mouth and he sucked it up with an eagerness. He had to let go of her soon though. But not yet. He was going to enjoy this and drag it out for as long as he could get away with it.

After a while, he parted from her and he rose up, blood on his lip, dripping down his chin. He exhaled and inhaled her scent. Vanilla, honey and blood. She had a painful hickey right over her artery and he observed it with a sick mirth. Blood oozed from it though. He would need to heal that and cover his tracks, so to say.

His hand had yet to leave her breast. He squeezed it again, excitement stirring inside him as a whimper escaped her, her lips trembling. Yet her eyes remained shut, though her brows were creased. Sasori's hand left her bust to gather at her neck, smearing the red liquid over her pale skin. Come to think of it, she did look much better in red...


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: So this chapter is longer than usual, as a way to make up for my absence. The 21 of December rolled by with crazy energies and I am indecisive and almost aloof to all the minor stuff in my life. I feel strangely neutral to all the bad stuff of our reality, I want to rise above the polarity. We had a great astronomical event with the conjunction and alignment of Saturn and Jupiter. The last time they came this close to each other in orbit, was in the middle ages around 1200, so It was pretty significant this event. Also, the stars are aligning to our planets torsion fields and as I observed the electromagnetic frequency of our planet (commonly known as the Schuman resonance) it had obviously spiked on December 21! So interesting omg! I'm not that surprised though, humanity is getting ready for 2021. The collective is waking up.**

**I want you all to be prepared for the coming year. Make sure to have enough water and food and medicine in your homes, but maybe you already have been hoarding goods for years now. ******I do believe we might need to make use of our supplies when 2021 rolls around, particularly in February. **Understand that your government might push new draconian rules and laws even more this next year. It is extremely difficult to see so many human rights and freedoms being trampled on all over the place but please remember to rise above it. We are being tested right now. Merry Christmas to you all and no matter what happens, never give in to fear. **

**That is a lesson we must all learn, and Hinata as well. Though I'm going to make her very afraid as the story progresses. As a way to train her. In the future, I might change the genre to horror, because it is going to get really, really, really dark from now on. Not sure when my next update will be but I'm trying to stay afloat here as well haha I'm sure you can relate in these highly crazy times. **

**Anyways, happy reading and happy new year! Keep the high vibes coming! xoxo**

**Chapter 18**

_Such vibrant green surrounded her. Wildlife everywhere. Giant trees and bushes and high grass, basking in utter greenness, a sort of greenness that came in plenty of shades thanks to the persistent sunlight. All of the colours came in a sheer brightness, like glistening emeralds. _

_Her little feet had white sandals on them, her chubby hands, dirt under their nails. _

"_Hinata" a low voice warbled out. _

_A deep tune, so familiar to her young ears. _

_Sasori looked down at her, his tanned hand cradling her small head. He wore his brown flak jacket, his dark pants, brown boots, scrolls and weapons. His red hair might as well have been dripping with blood. _

"_Are you a bit tired?" he asked her. _

_She laid draped across his leg. Her fragile body was small enough to fit well in between his semi-outstretched legs. There she rested, caved in like a crescent, resting her head on his thigh. _

_It was a terrible immoral and intimate position. But she was innocent, she had no idea. No clue about anything. For in this reality, she was but a child in body, mind and spirit. _

_Said child, looked up at him with a glazed over sheen in her white eyes. White like sea foam, white like snow drops.  
_

"_T-Tell me a story, please," she stuttered, hoping that he would bend to her wishes. _

_He usually did when the grass was this green._

_The puppet master wove her a tale of a monster of a man that walked on two legs, had two arms but no face. He stalked the streets and came unto defenseless young girls, all because he liked their melodic squeals and screams. _

_He stopped the progression of linear time, halted all things around him with just a snap of his clawed fingers. Then he stole their frozen bodies away to his own dimension, from whence he stemmed from._

_In this dimension, he woke them up and listened to their screams of terror with delight. He would pick the prettiest of girls with the prettiest of skin. Fair and unblemished skin with the smoothest of textures. _

_With the utmost precision, he cut off their milky skin to manufacture a face for his own. Stitching it together with a needle and thread, a delicate work. He made many masks for himself, leaving a trail of bloodied, faceless little girls in his wake. Masks to be worn on the great masquerade that was the society he wished so dearly to infiltrate. Everyone else wore a mask, so why shouldn't he? Why shouldn't he veil himself in a mask made of skin. A mask made of flesh and blood. _

_This thirst and passion of his could not be quenched and would not be quenched. Not until all the little girls in the world had screamed their throats raw, faceless, nameless and forgotten._

_The little girl inside of Hinata did not like this story. She froze in his lap like a rabbit would, her body trembling. Frightened, dove-like eyes stared up at him in horror. _

_Sasori merely met her stare with a blank look of his own. The sunlight in his eyes made them shine in golden luster, mixed in with different shades of copper and rust. Like dried blood that shimmered eerily. _

_He looked down at her in contemplation. It was a vile contemplation. A lizard-like, calculating stare. Predatory was the word she was looking for. _

_Hinata slowly rose her head up, her heart in her mouth, dread in her bones. Her head stretched far above the ground and it was disorienting to realise that she had suddenly grown taller. Her hair was longer, her bust well developed, her hips fuller, her eyes were much more mature and her face less chubby. She looked like a young woman but she was only a mere teen. Hence that innocence hadn't left her. Her childish naivety hadn't left her, wouldn't leave her. Not until it literally left her for dead, because this was at her own peril. _

"_Come with me," he said then, his lips cleaving themselves apart to reveal rows upon rows of white teeth. _

_The grin of a wolf. So unnaturally white, white like death. _

"_Come with me." _

_The crooked grin grew more and more hideous and Hinata reared back, crawling away from him. The green around her was so bright now it looked unnatural. The trees seemed coated with poison, dripping with venom. _

_Sasori lunged towards her, his hand pushing her down on the ground, keeping her in place. Hinata couldn't move a muscle, her mind caught in a turmoil, her thoughts nonsensical and repetitive. _

"_Nononononono" was the only phrase she could think off and it went on and on, like a broken record. _

"_Come with me," he said again, his voice rough and harsh. _

_She was petrified. Frozen in shock and then paralyzed with betrayal. Her eyes clouded in utter panic at the unfolding event before her. _

_Her pinned her down even more when she flinched. Not that she had any control of the spasm her muscles made. Dread was so hot in her stomach, so vile, so nauseous. His copper eyes became nasty, dark even through the sunbeams. _

_Tears gathered at her big eyes and she really tried to move. Tried with all her might to push him away. Tried with all her might to lift a finger, but she couldn't. It was like an invisible force field was around her, keeping her subdued. She drew a sharp breath, hiccuping meekly, her lips wobbling. _

"_Come with me," he demanded again, his hot breath ghosting over her face with a waft of leather and burned wood. _

_She uselessly shook her head. _

"_No..." she whispered out, her voice shaking in a broken and breathless tune. _

_His smile became even more heinous. His hand gathered up her wrists and kept them above her head. She struggled. Pathetic attempts, weak attempts. She couldn't understand how this was possible, why wouldn't her body comply to her wishes?_

_His other hand started to pull at her pants, undoing her belt. Roughly so, impatiently so. A horrid bile rose in her throat as his burning fingers found their way inside the clothing. _

_S-Sasori-san please stop, p-lease," she heaved out in despair. _

_She'd even used the honorifics this time and he still wouldn't stop, not that a measly title would save her now._

"_Come with me," he said again and without warning, two cold fingers pushed themselves inside of her. _

_She screamed, her body tensing up in pain. _

_Her body became utterly rigid as his fingers pumped in and out of her like a machine. Hinata whimpered and continuously yelled for him to stop but that only seemed to spur him on further. She started crying as his speed increased. _

"_Come with me," he said again, hissing it in her ear and she violently shook her head. _

_The searing pain between her legs seemed to transform into a throbbing ache. She gasped and sobbed, feeling how the ache increased. _

"_Come with me," _

_She stared up at his face, his handsome, smug face. She was starting to become hot down there, as well as drenched. She shut her eyes, utterly mortified. The pain transformed into pleasure and the ache increased. _

"_S-stop..." she uselessly got out. _

_His fingers curved into hooks inside of her. _

"_Stop it!" she yelled then, feeling how her legs slowly but surely became numb. _

_His fingers only increased their speed and appalling, sloppy noises came from them. She threw her eyes open, wide with fear as the pleasure built up inside of her like a ticking time bomb. She wasn't... She couldn't-  
_

"_STOP IT!" she screamed again, warmth exploding out of her, rushing through her. _

_She arched her back, her inner walls uncontrollably clenching down on his -still moving- fingers. Something akin to a moan rose in her throat. It got drowned out by her shrill scream of anger. _

**…**

Her scream woke her up, and not only her it seemed.

Neji threw the door open, his byakugan activated. She had locked it but it seemed as if he'd almost kicked it off its hinges.

"Hinata! What's happening?!" he blurted out, his brows creasing as he noticed that nothing seemed to be amiss, aside from the frightened girl on the bed.

Her hair clung to her forehead in cold sweat, slowly the roots around her eyes fell away, she didn't even know she had her byakugan activated.

"I-I-It was just a n-nightmare…" she gasped out, biting her lip to keep it from wobbling.

Neji-niisan creased his brows even more at that.

"Another one?"

Hinata saw him deactivate his byakugan as well and tried to smile at him. She usually had very vivid dreams, and sometimes she was unlucky enough to be graced with a nightmare.

But her usual nightmares had never been this chaotic before, and they had never been about Sasori. They had never been about...

"Y-Yes but this one was… a bit more brutal," she mumbled out, blinking away the waterworks she still had at the corners of her eyes.

Neji seemed as uncomfortable as she was herself.

"Hn, You should just forget about it. Get up and get ready."

With those blunt words, he turned and disappeared around the corner. Hinata let out a deep breath, feeling a slight headache take form at her frontal lobe.

Neji had never been good at comforting her. And so, when he got the slightest of irks that she might need a shoulder to lean to on, he was quick to leave. Emotional intelligence had never been his strong suit.

**…**

The older woman scrubbed the black and white tiled floor. The chessboard floor of the great Hyuga kitchen was always shiny thanks to her noble efforts.

Reiko-san's hair had grown quite long, reaching down past her lower back. She was well into her forties but still incredibly beautiful, with fair, healthy skin and full red lips. A symmetrical face was standard when it came to the Hyuga gene.

Putting the mop aside, she gave a sigh, and proceeded to gather the long brown tresses into a messy bun. Her white slippers matched her kimono, though it would seem that not everyone would take such footwear into consideration.

All to her great dismay of course. She had worked hard on keeping the floor devoid of any offending footprints.

Hyuga Neji entered barefoot with only a pair of black sweatpants on. He was already helping himself with the bread and butter when she uttered her disapproval.

"Master Neji! I've worked hard on these floors, the least you can do is to wear slippers!"

The young male seemed a a bit annoyed, his jaw clenched. He took a seat at the great oak table at the middle of the room, lifting a glass of juice to his lips.

"Hn. I will keep that in mind for next time..."

The older woman gave him an accepting smile and put the mop and bucket away.

"Is lady Hinata awake yet? Do you want some tea by the way?" She asked, not waiting for his answer as she put the kettle on.

"Yes, she woke me up herself with her ghastly shrieks... And yes, brew me some green," he answered, seemingly preoccupied with his breakfast.

Reiko-san gave a small intake of breath at that. She turned to give the young man a concerned look.

"Was it a nightmare?"

"Seems so."

She shook her head, a worried sheen in her white eyes.

"She hasn't had nightmares for quite some time now, as much as I know... I wonder if something happened."

Hyuga Neji gave a shrug, designing his sandwich to be the ultimate one. It was now filled with butter, cheese, ham, tomatoes and pickles.

"Who knows," he got out before stuffing his mouth full.

Hanabi was the next one to enter, wearing her purple pyjamas, her messy hair loose and wild. She skipped up to her seat at Neji's side, already looking up at her older cousin with a bright smile.

"Why was Nee-san screaming?" she chirped out, reaching for the juice.

"Apparent nightmare," muttered Neji, barely sparing the 10 year old child a glance.

The little child picked up on the fact that he would rather pay more attention to his sandwich than her. After all, how could she not?

She looked up to her older cousin as the pinnacle of what she should become. Hanabi aspired to be like him, like how she aspired to be like the cool kids in school.

"Hmph! I never have nightmares!," she bombastically pronounced, helping herself with her breakfast.

Neji ignored that. As did Reiko-san.

"Green tea, my loves," the older woman said, presenting the child and the teenager with two steaming cups.

They said thanks in unison and before long, the heiress entered. She dragged her feet behind her with a tired look on her face. Her white, fluffy slippers made no sound on the shiny floor and she drew her robe tighter around herself.

"Good morning lady Hinata, do want some green tea?" Reiko-san asked, searching the younger female's troubled eyes.

"Oh yes, Reiko-san, thank you," Hinata answered, giving her a small smile that did not fully reach her eyes.

She stifled a yawn as she walked over to the fridge, opening it.

"What did ya dream about, nee-san?" Hanabi suddenly asked, her mouth filled with noodles.

Hinata gave a grimace, picking out the sushi from yesterday.

"I don't remember," she lied, pushing the fridge shut and grabbing the soy sauce.

Neji scoffed at that and she shot him a small glare, ignoring it. As she walked to the table with her food, she caught the wide eyed look of Hanabi and scrunched her eyebrows at her perplexed expression.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, sitting down and pouring the soy sauce into a small bowl.

"What… is that in your hair?!" she exclaimed, craning her neck to see the ornament better.

"I was actually wondering about that too," added Neji, briefly looking up from his sandwich.

Hinata allowed a grin to plaster itself on her face. She turned around so they could see the glistening gems better.

"Do you like it? The chain is in silver and the gems are diamonds," she explained, the grin growing in size as she took in the shocked look on her cousin and the jealous scowl on her sister.

"That-that can't be! How did you get your hands on that!?" Hanabi sputtered out, she did actually look confused.

Hinata hesitated and it showed. She bit her lip and looked away, fidgeting in her seat as her mind razed with answers. She hated lying so much...

"Who was it? Who?!" her sister went on, not satisfied with her sudden silence.

"Was it your "secret admirer" huh?" Neji suddenly chimed in, looking straight at her, his words dripping with some kind of mordacity.

Her mouth flew open at that but she promptly shut it with a huff.

"Um… Yes well, he bought it for me in Sunagakure," she let out, picking at her food as a blush set her cheeks aflame.

Neji sighed and massaged his temples, like he was having a bad headache.

"It's not fucking normal…"

"Language," snapped Reiko-san as she came around the table with her tea.

The older Hyuga handed the steaming cup over to Hinata who bowed her head in gratitude.

"Hinata," her cousin suddenly said, his tone rather cold.

She stiffened up at the sound of it, it almost reminded her of the tone her father would use, almost. Looking up at her cousin, she brought the warm beverage to her lips and took a careful sip, already knowing where he was going.

Hanabi cautiously looked between the two, her eyes even bigger than before. She had enough sense to stay quiet this time though.

"You've been receiving gifts from this… person since you were around six. He must be a grown man, he must have an obsession, why the hell would he give you so much expensive stuff? It's fucking creepy!" he blurted out, narrowing his white eyes at her and she met his stare, determined to not look away.

"Why is it so weird to you? I don't think it's that strange, it's like we are pen-pals. There's no harm in-" she tried to explain but he cut her off.

"It is obsessive of him to have stayed in contact for this long, and he hasn't even shown his face to you yet. Everyone thinks it's weird, they're just not telling you."

She was a little speechless at that. Did everyone really think that? Of course, only telling half-truths of something would make anyone confused…

"Alright so, maybe it's a bit odd…" she conceded, dipping a piece of rice and salmon in the soy sauce.

"Father doesn't like it either, he thinks it's someone that seeks the favour of the clan," Hanabi suddenly chimed in.

Hinata cringed a little at that proposition, she hid her face in her palm.

"Well I don't think so…" she muttered.

Reiko-san sat down at Hinata's side, a bowl of eggs in her hand.

"Regardless of what his intentions may be, That piece of jewelry looks absolutely stunning on you," she said, caressing the gems with a smile on her face.

Thank you, Reiko-san," she answered, mirroring her smile.

She had to agree with that, she did look absolutely terrific.

**…**

"Wasting your time on trivialities as usual, Hinata?"

A stern, curt voice cut through the air and she flinched, dropping one of her fans. She turned around to meet the cold eyes of Hiashi. Her father was decked out in fishnet and leather, his training gear. A smug-looking Hanabi were at his side, wearing the same outfit.

"I'm not wasting my time, I'm making art," Hinata stated, picking up her fan and resuming her pose.

_Light as a feather, sturdy as steel, _she reminded herself, her arms sailing back and forth as she balanced the fans on the tips of her fingers. The white fans levitated slightly with wind release and she twirled them around elegantly. She tried to keep her movements soft and gentle when fan dancing. Though that was a challenge when she could literally feel her father glaring daggers at her.

"Who taught you wind release?" her father suddenly asked.

"Neji-niisan," she responded, "B-But making things float is about the only thing I can do."

"Hm, That's a disappointment."

Her right eyebrow ticked in irritation at that. Her fingers twitched and the fans sprung up and away, changing places.

"I didn't bother learning anything else since I only wanted some tricks for my fans," she responded, her body moving in slow rhythm as her feet slid over the floorboards.

"Hanabi," her father said and she briefly glanced over to see Hiashi putting his hands on her sister's small shoulders. "Watch closely and remember this moment. I want you to know that if you want to succeed in life, you must do everything the exact opposite of your big sister. Hinata represents everything you should not want to become. She was lucky to be born, and you were born lucky. Come, let me hone your skills."

With that, he started to lead her little sister away. Hanabi glanced back at her with a satisfied grin, sticking out her tongue. She kept her face stone cold and passive, not willing to give her sister a reaction. Yet as soon as they rounded the corner, she allowed her anger to leak out of her.

With a frustrated yell, she snapped her fingers and the fans flew into the wall, clattering uselessly on the ground. She took a deep breath, trying ease the hot anger she felt inside of her, pressing up against her rib cage and filling her lungs with fire. Her lip twitched with disgust as she took in the Hyuga emblem on the wall.

Looking down, she noticed the same symbol on the arm of her jacket. Without thinking, she undid the garment and promptly took it off. Hinata wasn't sure when she had started to view the symbol with such disdain, but it must have started some years ago now.

Her thoughts traveled to her little sister, who wore the symbol with unimaginable pride. Hanabi were fiercely loyal to their clan and she practically worshipped their traditions and ways. Hinata knew that she dearly wanted to be heiress.

Hiashi had utilised this enthusiasm Hanabi had for their roots, he had encouraged her and fanned the flames to -what Hinata perceived to be- a deluded superiority complex. She had the sneaking suspicion that their father had poisoned Hanabi against her as well. The little child had adopted the same conduct of their father.

Hiashi had taken Hanabi in as his own discipline, training with her nearly every single day for at least a few hours. She was only ten years old, eager to please, eager to learn, eager to impress. He treated her like the golden goose, spoiled her with his attention and praise. He actually treated her like a daughter, something he had never done with Hinata. A fact the heiress tried to ignore but at the same time couldn't.

She tried not to be cross with her little sister for this obvious inequality. Yet Hanabi tested her every time. Sure, Hinata was beyond the point of needing or wanting her father's approval (at least that's what she told herself). Yet Hanabi kept rubbing the power dynamics in her face. Being favoured by their father, seemed to be getting to her head.

It was a huge boost to the little child's ego, earning her father's favour in the stead of her elder sister. There were already talks amongst the branch members that Hiashi might be grooming Hanabi to take over the title of heiress. _Good,_ thought Hinata, her inner voice raw with scorn. _I never wanted that title anyway, nor its responsibilities._

After all, why be the leader of a clan that had only ever treated her as second class? Hinata clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes as she observed the emblem plastered on the wall. The Hyuga clan was stuck in the past, she judged. It will never evolve, never improve with its outdated ways and tyrannical traditions. Who would be so cruel as to practically enslave their own kin, merely based on the line of succession? It was such an old system that the branch family didn't even question it anymore. If they ever had.

They were willing subjects, willing slaves. Some were even proud to serve, proud of the cursemark they sported on their foreheads, proud of their heritage. Idiots. The whole lot of them. Completely indoctrinated, just like her sister. Neji-niisan was the only one she knew of who had been spiteful of the system, but nowadays, he seemed to have accepted his place in it.

Hinata exhaled through her nose, feeling her ire growing inside of her. The time would come when Hanabi would fight her for the title of heiress. She decided then and there that she would let her win and finally be rid of the nonsensical burden that was her birthright. She didn't want any of it.

The eldest Hyuga picked up her fans and strode away in the direction of her chambers. Once she got there, she changed her clothes, deciding that she felt like black and red today. Thus, she dressed herself in dark, long-sleeved tunic, reaching down to her knees with split sides.

A crimson obi was tied around her waist, complete with black trousers and red, high boots. She tied her hair up in a high ponytail and was elated when she found a matching red ribbon to put around the knot. She was also thrilled when she found a red-tinted lipstick, natural-looking and beautiful. The kind of lipstick that would allow her to bite her lips and eat without consequence since it was so faint.

Maybe she was a bit immature for finding so much joy in dressing up. But this outfit was her training gear for when she wanted some extra luck. A kick, a punch, some extra confidence. Black and red was a colour combination that was quickly becoming one of her favourites. Pulling on some black fingerless gloves, Hinata fastened her scroll holster horizontally at her lower back.

A black belt was crucial to this outfit, as to not ruin her colour theme. So she acquired the blackest belt she could find in her wardrobe and attached her poisoned kunais to it. She placed her senbons in the small compartments inside her boots. Compartments she had sown into existence herself, three in each shoe.

Done and happy with her handiwork, she proceeded to leave the compound. She wanted some entertainment and to hone her skills. Haruko would do nicely.

**…**

Kamichika Haruko lived for fear. She had a good nose, a knack for sniffing out people's weak points like a bloodhound would with raw meat. It had been that way ever since she was very young. She just didn't fit in with other kids.

She instantly grew uncomfortable when she was around someone more assertive than herself. She was the assertive one, after all. She was the leader, she was the one who pushed, not the pushover.

The power dynamics confused her little mind and distorted her perspective.

Insecure. She felt insecure when she came across someone she couldn't control. It was bordering on the pathological, it was a panicky thing. Maybe that's why her first friend had been someone as timid and as gentle as Hinata.

Because Hinata wasn't a threat, wasn't a challenge. She used to always boss her around when they were younger, oh how the tables have turned.

Ever since the chunin exams... Haruko, who had been so sure of herself, so stuck on her high horse, became changed. You see, she never entertained the possibility that Hinata would win. Nevertheless, that she would win in such a disastrous way, putting her proud self away in a coma that lasted for… too long

Her pride and confidence had yet to come out of that coma, even though her physical body had long since awakened. In fact, every time Hinata sought her out nowadays, she instantly grew uncomfortably. One thing was for sure, during the chunin exams, Hinata had made Haruko afraid for perhaps the first time in her life.

The fear of death, was something she had been so good at ignoring. Though, it was the same fear she used against her opponents. After all, most people did fear the deepening dark. The end. Destination darkness. Unbecoming, nothingness, void. She was one of them. In that sense, she was just like everyone else.

She wondered if Hinata feared the same. She knew her fear was tightly connected to death, but it seemed to revolve around the trauma of seeing her loved ones die more than facing the grim reaper herself. The bulk of Hinata's insecurities laid with her family, she loved them but hated them at the same time. Haruko knew. She just simply did.

She felt her heart twist in foreign, yet familiar sensation at the thought of the Hyuga. For once, she found herself agreeing with her. They really should have stayed as friends.

Now… she could hardly describe their odd relationship as a friendship… It was a power play. Nothing more and nothing less. The tables had turned and Hinata made the rules now. From the outside they could be described as sparring partners, but Haruko knew better. Hinata was stronger than her. The Hyuga had long since worked up a strong defense against her genjutsus. Her hand to hand combat always ended with unbearable pain on Haruko's part and her skills in puppetry had dramatically increased during the last year or so.

The only reason as to why the byakugan wielder sought her out nowadays, was to torment her. Haruko was sure of that. So it was with a spiteful bitterness that she took in the form of Hinata as she walked up to her with that sugary sweet smile of hers.

Her byakugan was activated so Haruko refrained from asking how she'd found her. She looked away from her former childhood friend, not seeing any point in greeting her.

"Did you lose someone in the war?" Hinata slowly asked.

She was obviously referring to the memorial stone Haruko was sitting in front of. It had all the names of the fallen Konoha citizens that had met their demise when the ten tails attacked, carved into it. It glimmered in the sunlight, wet from the snow that Haruko herself had wiped away.

"My whole family. My mother was the only survivor," Haruko stated, keeping her eyes on the stone as Hinata walked up to her and crouched down by her side.

"I'm sorry… I-I didn't know that," the hyuga said and was that remorse she could hear in her hesitant voice?

Haruko threw Hinata a glance, her auburn eyebrows creased in a small frown.

"Don't be. I didn't know them," she got out, managing a roll of her green eyes.

"Then I'm sorry for the sake of your mother. It-it must have been hard on her, raising you all by herself," Hinata continued.

The redhead didn't know what to say to that so she just kept quiet, snuggling her chin deeper into her green scarf.

"I wanted to spar with you-" the Hyuga began but Haruko promptly interrupted her.

"I'm not in the mood to get my ass kicked today" she remarked, her words dry.

Haruko turned to look at the girl by her side, to see her looking quite startled.

"Nice clothes," she couldn't help but to concede as she took in Hinata's attire.

She raised her dark brows, not expecting the compliment. A happy smile crept upon her lips.

"T-Thank you, Haruko-san."

Haruko had a hard time grabbling with the fact that someone as ruthless as Hinata was in a fight, still stuttered from time to time.

"Red and black? I thought you liked purple or some shit like that…" she continued, deciding to humour the girl.

"Oh, I'm trying out some new stuff, I don't know why but these colours just call to me right now…" she said with an almost nervous laugh.

She was probably aware of how ridiculous she sounded.

"Haruko-san!" someone suddenly called and the two girls turned around at the noise.

It was Akari who had called and Kane stood by her side. Her two team members.

"Mei-sensei has a mission for us!" Kane went on to explain, his white hair almost melting in with their snowy surroundings.

He had light blue eyes and a pale face, looking cold to the touch but she knew from personal experience that he was anything but that. Akari was the complete opposite though, bronze skin, brown eyes and long brown locks. Haruko turned to Hinata, relieved at the arrival of her two teammembers. She had wanted to get out of this dump for quite some time now. Needless to say, she was looking forward to this mission, whatever it may be.

"You will have to find someone else to kill time with, I'm outta here," she proclaimed, rising to her feet and strolling away.

"Safe travel," she heard Hinata say behind her back and she raised her hand in her direction, waving goodbye.

Hyuga Hinata loitered about the memorial stone for a few more minutes, watching Haruko and her friends disappear in the distance. She gave a sigh not knowing what to do with her time now… Well that wasn't entirely true. There was something she had to investigate, she had avoided it for too long now…

Soon, the tips of her fingers had grown so cold that they started to feel numb. That's when she rose up and started trekking back to the village. She needed to find a copy of the bingo book. The local library was located right next to the hospital. So that would be her destination.

**…**

The library of Konoha had always been easy on the eyes. Always spotless, always clean. Lit up by candles and green kerosene lamps. The floor was in a shiny, grey marble as were the walls. The windows were like artworks, coloured in all the shades of the rainbow and making an equally colourful sheen dance on the walls as the sun peeked through.

"The bingo book huh? Right this way, miss," one of the librarians said as he led her way through the packed shelves of the massive building.

The bookcases were tall, reaching all the way up to the curved roof, as such, ladders could be seen everywhere.

"Here we are! This one is a bit dated but I trust it will suffice, though it would depend if you're looking for "fresh meat" so to say..." he explained as he came to a stop by one of the bookshelves.

He took out a large, big tome and handed it over to her. She wasn't keen on letting him know what she was looking for so she just gave the young man a small smile.

"Oh don't worry, this one will do nicely!" Hinata responded, her voice nice and easy.

"Alright then! Happy reading, let me know if you need any help."

With that, the librarian disappeared around the corner of the bookcase, obviously having better things to do than to make small talk with her. She was glad for that though, she would rather not be disturbed right now.

Hinata walked over with the book to a table and took a seat. It's cover was in a deep red and plastered over it in big black letters she read: "Wanted Ninjas and/or missing nins." Not the most enigmatic title, she would have to admit.

Opening the first page, she came across the register and started to search for the letter S. She found it in no time and as she went through all the names starting with an "S", her mouth became dryer and dryer with each passing breath. Then she found the familiar name she'd been searching for. Her eyes grew wide as the reality of her situation settled in.

She licked her chapped lips and removed her gloves so that her warm, clammy hands could breathe. Nervously, she started to flick through the pages. There seemed to be only one missing nin with the odd name of "Sasori" and it didn't stop with just "Sasori" either.

"_Dubbed "Akasuna no Sasori" by the sand nation for his outstanding military service in the third war, the puppet master fled Sunagakure after his apparent crime of murdering the third Kazekage." _

Hinata couldn't stop the breathless gasp that leaked out of her, her eyes going wider by the second. She continued to read, even through the onslaught of her headache. She couldn't… she couldn't stop now.

"_His puppets had been so deadly that they had left the sand dunes coated in a deep red, stretching on for miles, hence his nickname. Akasuna no Sasori is an S-ranked missing nin and his expertise lies with puppets and poisons. He comes from Sunagakure's puppet brigade."_

She allowed her eyes to settle on the picture they had chosen. It was obviously taken before he defected from Suna. Sasori not looking his age wasn't anything new. He looked just like himself in the picture, very much like he did now. The exact same face, the tanned skin, the high cheekbones, the sharp jawline, the thin lips. There was no sign of age or even emotion on his face.

She looked at the small writing underneath the picture; "_Taken at 18 years of age." _Sasori right now didn't exactly look like an 18 year old, he was more mature in his appearance. He looked more like a 20 year old, so he must have started making changes to his body after this picture was taken. Either way… the knot in her stomach grew only tighter. He wore a Suna headband, the first ever headband she had seen on him. How stupid of her to not have realised the truth sooner...

"_He is counted as being extremely dangerous, a born prodigy, cunning, manipulative and cold-blooded. Shortly before the disappearance of the third Kazekage, Sasori was accused of using civilians as lab rats for his various experiments. He had perfected a jutsu and a technique that would allow him to turn human bodies into puppets that still maintained the ability to use their ingrained knowledge, such as nin-jutsus and bloodline limits. Akasuna no Sasori defected from Sunagakure and kidnapped as well as killed his Kazekage at age 19. The third Kazekage was hailed by the Sand village as their strongest Kage ever recorded, he had an unique ability called Iron sand."_

Her eyes darted from word to word, slowly but surely feeling how a strange sort of numbness enclosed her from head to toe. Numbness that turned into an ice-cold dread, a nauseating sickness.

"_Date of birth: November 8. Ninja Registration: 33-001. Academy grad. Age: 7. Chunin Prom. Age: 8."_

He graduated at 7 years old?! Chunin at 8?! Killed Suna's strongest Kazekage ever recorded?!

"Just who is this person…" her trembling voice staggered out of her mouth like it was in a deep state of shock. "W-Who-" she continued to stammer, feeling the lump in her throat tear at her insides, it was like she wanted to cry but couldn't.

She wanted to get up and run, but she couldn't move her feet. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his picture, from his calm, cold chestnut eyes. She wanted to scream out loud but not a word escaped her.

"_Human experiments? Human bodies? Dead human body parts stitched together into puppets? INTO WEAPONS?" _Hinata's mind screamed at her, trying to make sense of the information, trying to coax some sort of reaction out of her.

She released a breath and bit her lip, feeling tears build up behind her glossy eyes. Taking a look around and deducing that no one was watching her, Hinata promptly ripped off the page she'd been reading on. She tucked it into her obi and slammed the book shut. She left the library, almost running out, her hand grasping her switch phone in a tight grip.

**…**

She went straight home, cursing the broken lock on her door from Neji's assault.

"Are you still in Konoha?" she texted Sasori, sitting down on her bed.

"More or less," was his immediate answer.

For some reason, she was so uncomfortable at the swiftness of his reply, go figure why… considering all the information she had on him.

"Come meet me," she typed.

"Where?"

"Outside your workshop, the one inside the cave."

**…**

The cold air bit at her cheeks and they flushed red in the brittle wind. At least it wasn't snowing anymore. The sky bled into an orange sheen above her head, the sun was slowly starting to set.

Though her clothes were warm enough to hinder any chills, she still shivered. She hadn't cried yet and she had decided against such a prospect. Though Hinata felt lied to, manipulated and tricked by this man she considered her dearest and oldest friend, she still had to hear his side of the story.

What sort of monster would use innocent people as guinea pigs in their sick and twisted experiments? The kind that had raised her it seemed. Should this be a surprise though? She always knew something was up and when she got confirmation on his more… bodily aspects, it became staggeringly clear that Sasori wasn't who she thought he was. He had never been.

"What's wrong?" his voice hissed like a snake through the air, right by her ear.

She jumped away from him, her heart in her mouth as she took in her teacher with big, alarmed eyes.

"I was hoping you could t-tell me that," she forced out, backing away even more and taking out the folded paper from her obi.

"Black and red suits you," he commented and she ignored it, handing him the paper and insisting he took it.

Sasori, dressed in brown and black, looked absolutely brilliant with the orange sky behind him, leaking into his hair and making it look like wild flames. Shiny and red, like the sands his title spoke of. He gave her a pointed and suspicious look, he knew her all too well. She met his eyes for only half a second before she had to look away.

That disturbing dream she had about him him, came back with fury and slapped her right across her face for ignoring its presence throughout the day. She became hot inside with shame and quickly did her best to discard the invading memories.

"Timid and avoidant as ever I see," he snidely drawled out and she could tell he was in a mood today.

He unfolded the paper and took a good, hard look at it. His lips morphed themselves into a crooked sneer. Then, his eyes snapped up to her. For some reason, those rusted chestnut orbs seemed to be laughing at her.

And inside, he actually was laughing at her. Laughing at the affronted, distraught look she had in her big opal eyes. She wanted him to explain himself. To reassure her, to make amends, to tell her a lovely little fairytale of misunderstandings so that she could redeem him in her eyes. He would give her none of that. His pupil deserved the truth, though… he wouldn't overdo it.

"Before you say a word, I-I have something to say!" she blurted out, passion in her girly voice.

_Passion choked the flower, till she cried no more. _

"Go on," he said, crushing the paper into a ball.

He could literally see himself choking her. Her gasps and wheezes, her legs thrashing around wildly, her nails digging into his -not so normal- skin.

"Those people that you used like… like lab rats… who were they?" she breathed out, and it looked like she was afraid of the answer.

_Good. She should be. _

"Bad people. They all deserved it. No one was innocent if that's what you're asking," he snapped, taking in her reaction with great amusement.

Hinata looked stunned, then a bit forlorn and lost. Yet she was sad and angry at the same time. Her red lips wobbled a bit and she took a deep sigh, as if she was trying to hold it together.

"Have you ever killed any children?" she asked, abruptly and suddenly so, she even looked shocked herself by the question.

So she was obviously getting the most important stuff out of the way, the big game changers.

"Only when I was a child myself, in the chunin exams," he told her, his voice adapting to a lower, softer pitch.

That wasn't a lie, he didn't believe in killing children. Her face contorted almost painfully and she hid her face in her hands, sitting down on a rock.

"That's a relief I suppose…"

"_What if I'm lying?" _He almost wanted to ask, but refrained from doing so. He wasn't going to screw this up now. Not when he got her right where he wanted her. The snow crackled under his boots as he walked up to her and knelt down by her side.

"I suppose Akira and Daigo are missing nins as well, if that's even their real names…" she grumbled out, taking her hands from her face and he spotted fresh tear marks on her flushed cheeks.

"Correct."

Hinata froze like a rabbit would. Tensing up and staring at him, as his hand took a gentle hold of her chin. He moved her head to the side, forcing her to look at him.

"This doesn't change anything Hinata, I'm still your mentor, I'm still your friend. I would never hurt you," he asserted, his eyes intensely staring into her own, his jaw as sharp as a razor blade.

Doubt gnawed at her relentlessly, but the old love she had for him overtook it. Albeit, not completely. Her relationship with this person surely couldn't get more complicated… He had killed people and difield their bodies by turning them into puppets. He had probably done so to maybe hundreds of once living, breathing human beings. Did it really matter whether they were innocent or not? Did it really matter whether or not they deserved it? Was he even being truthful?

Yet despite this horrendous information about him, guilt overcame her. Guilt because her body and her mind were already betraying her conscience. Yes, she was angry, but she didn't feel hate when he touched her. Yes, she was repulsed but she didn't feel disgust when he was near her. Yes, she felt manipulated and tricked, but she was too eager to forgive him. Much too eager. She was eager to swallow his words, not knowing if they were true or not.

And it was easy as well, but the seed of doubt was growing inside of her, expanding into a lingering fear. Just who was he? If he had hid these things from her her entire life, what more was he hiding?

He had killed his own Kazekage. This person that now sat there and stared at her so calmly, was way more powerful than what she'd imagined. She knew he had to be at least a Jounin, but Kage-level? Even now that seemed strange… Even so, this meant that he always had the upper hand and if she ran into problems with Sasori, the best thing she could do was to run and hide.

And she couldn't even hide now that she thought of it… Didn't he have access to at least three byakugans right now? From the clan members he had so graciously "taken care of" when she was little. If she remembers correctly, though the memory was fuzzy and inconsistent now, those three men disappeared the same night she met Sasori. He must have made puppets out of them, their eyes held much value.

Hinata inwardly cringed at the way she was thinking and she shook her head, her shoulders slumping as she released her breath. A breath she wasn't even aware she had been holding.

"Hinata," Sasori said and she blinked up at him, noticing the vexation she could see so clearly on his face.

"Sorry I spaced out…" she responded, not feeling very sorry at all.

"You probably need time to process this information. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have, you need only ask," he explained, his voice monotone and logical.

The headache had gone into a light hibernation since she left the library, but now it came rushing back with full force.

"H-How did you defeat the third Kazekage?" she couldn't help but ask.

Suddenly, they both froze as laughter could be heard in the woods. She immediately activated her byakugan and zeroed in on the figures in the distance.

"How far and how many?" asked Sasori.

"Not very and they are coming this way, a genin team. They don't know we're here though," Hinata explained, observing the teenagers as they threw snowballs at each other.

"We should go," was his only answer and without warning, he stood up and grabbed her wrist, dragging her along with him.

She fought the urge to leap back and remove his grip on her, no doubt that would sour his mood even more. Though his grip was strong and his fingers dug into her flesh, it put her on edge. For obvious reasons, she wasn't entirely comfortable with him at the moment. And he seemed to know that.

Sasori pulled her over to a tree and searched her troubled eyes. He looked up at the fading orange sky and then back at her.

"Hinata, I want to show you something."

She was hesitating and it showed, but in the end, she gave in with a sigh.

"Alright…"


End file.
